Soul's Wings
by KnightEstoc
Summary: Y'know, I probably should have seen this coming when the gypsy woman turned over the Lovers card, took one look at me, and then burst out laughing hysterically. But how was I supposed to know that there were aliens beyond the Outer Gates?
1. First Spell

**The First Spell**

* * *

I wasn't quite sure what day of the week it was, but I'm pretty sure it was a Wednesday. Never quite could figure out Wednesday...

Apparently most people liked Wednesdays. Most people had a regular nine-to-five job and got the weekends off. Most people could go home on Wednesday evening, happy that most of the week was over and they only had a few more days left until the weekend.

Most people weren't currently fighting an eldritch monster from beyond time and space on a battlefield that warped and changed chaotically.

Guess which category I fit into. I'll give you a hint: I've never been good at nine-to-five.

See, the thing about Wednesdays is that it usually means the first half of my week sucked, and the second half of my week is about to suck harder. Right now, that meant I was hastily throwing up a shield in order to not be torn in half by claws attached to a forearm that's thicker than my torso and covered in some weird combination of mold, fur, and scales. I'd managed to get it up in time, but I was running on empty and it wasn't enough to block the blow entirely. I was knocked off my feet by the sheer force behind the swipe, and my head struck something hard when I landed. When I stood up, the world was swaying. Swell, a concussion, just what I needed.

I shook my arm and grimaced, looking down at the shreds of what used to be the sleeve of my duster. I'd enchanted that thing with pretty much everything that's tried to kill me before and failed – it was bulletproof and stab-proof, spread out any impact across my entire body, breathe better in the summer, and protect from all sorts of ghouls, ghosts, and things that went bump in the night – but somewhere along the line I'd forgotten Protection from Outsiders. Oh well. The rest of it had become a casualty of war a while back, so I would have needed to replace it anyway.

 _My host, perhaps you should focus on the fight rather than the fashion nightmare you insist on wearing,_ the voice in my head told me.

'Is now really the time, Lash?' I asked her, flexing my hand to make sure nothing had been damaged too terribly.

Before you get the wrong idea, it's not _my_ voice in my head. I'm not crazy.

In this case, the voice belonged to a fallen angel – a pillar of creation that's existed since the dawn of creation, and one that was hellbent on persuading me to join the dark side of the Force and damning my soul for all eternity. And she was pretty good at it, too. The fallen angels, and this one in particular, were schemers and manipulators to the core.

But the voice in my head wasn't a fallen angel, not entirely. It was actually the shadow of the fallen angel Lasciel. It was a long story, but I'd managed to split Lash off from her progenitor and now she was on my side, more or less. It's that age-old story from before time existed... Boy meets girl, girl tempts boy with eternal damnation, boy snarks at girl, girl sacrifices herself to save boy... The sort of thing those sappy Hallmark soap operas are made from. She drove me nuts, but when she'd sacrificed herself to save me from an Outsider's psychic brain drill, I'd realized how much I'd missed her.

 _And now you are reminiscing,_ Lash sighed. _Perhaps next time the Walker will take your arm off entirely instead of just the sleeve._

I grumbled under my breath, but she had a point. 'I think you gave me fewer headaches when you were a brain parasite.'

Even though I couldn't see it, I knew she was smiling faintly at my comeback before getting serious again. _Speaking of headaches, Harry…_ A second later, the ringing in my ears stopped and I took a grateful breath as the dry land finally decided to act like it. _It is temporary at best, my host, but the concussion should not inhibit you for now._

'Thanks, Lash.' Now that my vision wasn't double and I could see straight, I stood up and looked for wherever my opponent had disappeared to.

I had a half-second to react to the roar of anger from my left, but that was like an eternity as I drew on the power of Winter and spun. The Walker pounced at me, and I drew back my fist and decked it. I felt something crack, but I wasn't sure if that was my fist or its face. Either way, it tumbled to the ground, hopefully in pain. I gritted my teeth as red-hot shards of agony started working their way up my arm. Guess that crack was my arm, huh?

The pain went away after a second thanks to Lash playing around with my nerves, but my arm still hung limply by my side. I broke my arm, but the Outsider… was perfectly fine, I guess, since it stood up and snarled at me. I wrinkled my nose as the stench of death and decay reached me from where it was. Its breath matched the rest of it perfectly, at any rate. A match made in Hell.

Slowly, I straightened up and exhaled, my breath fogging up from the last shreds of Winter coursing through me. With a howl, He Who Walks Behind charged at me, and I narrowed my eyes. " _Forzare_!" I barked, slamming as much will as I could into the spell. The Walker tried to change course, but the ground underneath us had shifted to ice in an instant, and that momentary loss of traction was all I needed. The bolt of force slammed into the Walker and sent it skidding away along the ice.

I moved after it, intending to follow through with something that might stand a chance of hurting it for real, but the howling winds whipped snow around and obscured everything. "Wizard!" He Who Walks Behind roared out. "Your own will betrays you!"

"I just didn't want to keep looking at your ugly mug!" I shouted, standing still. The Walker would be able to find me no matter how stealthy I was, so I just needed to make sure I found him first. But despite my best efforts, the snow was making me blind.

Well, I knew how to handle a whiteout in this situation. I concentrated my will and a sun bloomed into existence above me, reflecting against the snow. It sizzled now and then when flakes landed on it, but it was so powerful I could feel the heat warming my bones. I always had a knack for fire, and it answered my call just like it always did. But I wasn't done yet. 'Lash?' I requested, and I could swear I felt phantom lips brush my cheek.

 _As you wish, my beloved host._

The sun twisted and warped as it changed, growing darker as its nature was distorted. A smell of brimstone and sulfur billowed around me. Hellfire - the power of destruction, of corruption. Out beyond the Outer Gates, I had no qualms about using it. It was Hellfire, but Hellfire was a product of my world. Pouring so much of it into the spell, to the point where it was almost more Hellfire than regular fire, was dangerous, but it was still a solid link to my world in this place where chaos reigned.

The blizzard disappeared in an instant, replaced by gouts of stinking flame from scorched holes in the ground. The massive fireball above my head crackled and snapped, chaotically testing the limits of my will. But that was okay – I wasn't going to be holding onto it for much longer. When the blizzard disappeared, so did the Walker's cover.

It charged me, and I shouted wordlessly in defiance as I unleashed everything I had, pouring it into the Hellfire-charged fire spell. It slammed into the Walker and kept going, crashing into the ground and exploding with a roar of flame. The ground around the impact cracked from the sheer heat, and the wash of hot air took my breath away. Dust rose from where the sun had landed, obscuring the crater.

For a timeless instant nothing moved, and I hoped that this last attack finally did it. Suddenly an ugly laugh cracked the silence, and I felt that hope die as the hellscape surrounding me warped into a disgusting sight, corpses as far as I could see piled high along a sluggish river of blood. "That almost tickled, wizard," He Who Walks Behind rumbled in its calm British accent, emerging from the cloud of dust. The Hellfire-infused fireball had had _some_ effect, at least; the fur or scales or whatever you called the fungus-like stuff covering its body had been scorched and blackened, and small flickers of flame still danced over the Walker's crooked legs and too-long arms. "But it wasn't enough to stop me," it sneered.

I grimaced. 'Somehow, he smells _worse_ , now. Does he smell worse to you, Lash?'

 _You know as well as I that your senses are mine, Harry,_ she told me. _But yes, the Walker is rather rank._

'Okay, good, it's not just me.' I tried to grin, but a sudden coughing fit caught me by surprise. When I was able to catch my breath, I spat out the blood in my mouth – the coppery tang was a harsh reminder that even if I didn't feel the pain, thanks to the combined efforts of Lash and the Mantle of Winter, I couldn't exactly walk off getting half my ribs snapped in two.

 _My host… Harry,_ Lash said gently. _Your body is at its limit. If you continue fighting, you know that you will die. Even I cannot prevent that._

'Maybe with an attitude like that, I might, Lash,' I told her as I wiped at my mouth with my arm. I really wish I still had my duster. First thing I'm doing if I somehow manage to live through this fiasco is getting a new one.

My bravado aside, I was running out of options. I'd thrown pretty much everything but the kitchen sink at the monster in front of me, and nothing had left so much as a dent. Even Hellfire, probably the most destructive aspect of my arsenal, hadn't had an effect.

I tried reaching deeper, to summon up more magic, but I knew I was scraping the bottom of the well. I'd been fighting nonstop for so long… And I hadn't made it out of all those earlier battles unscathed, either. Every one of them had taken their pound of flesh, and I was totally exhausted. I was empty of Winter, of fire and force. "Would you like to know what I'm going to do to your world, child of the stars?" the Walker purred at me.

"I get the feeling you'll tell me anyway, even if I don't," I glowered at him. I barely had enough energy left to make quips, which should be a pretty good indication of how dire my situation was.

The Walker spread its lips, showing off its misshapen teeth that were too sharp and too long to fit in its mouth but somehow did anyway. "I'm going to slaughter every last man, woman, and child you fought so hard to protect," it sneered. "But their deaths will not be quick and painless. Oh, no. They will _suffer_ , wizard, for your arrogance at thinking you could stop us." It laughed, and the dark sound twisted my stomach. "You will die knowing that you failed."

Die.

I went still and closed my eyes. I was going to Die Alone – the death curse laid on me would see to that.

But if I was going to Die Alone, there was something I had to do, first. If nothing that I threw at him was going to keep him down, then I had to make my last-ditch effort at stopping the Walkers forever.

"Heh…"

The soft chuckle made the Walker snarl. "What is so funny, wizard?"

I shook my head. "The fact that you think you've managed to beat me."

"Why do you still resist?!" the monstrosity howled. "You can't win! Your body is broken and shattered!"

"You're pretty too," I growled, trying hard to ignore the blood that came with the words. "But my job is just about done."

It snarled, its mouth far too wide. It was like staring at something from Lewis Carroll's drug-fueled nightmares. "What do you think you can do now? You are broken, mortal. You may have stopped us for now, but nothing will prevent us from coming back with a force twice as strong!"

I couldn't help it. I laughed again, despite knowing it would hurt. "Seriously? That's your idea of a threat?" I raised my hand. "You were scarier when I saw you in that pinball machine, way back when."

I lowered my hand and the massive Gates to my world started to swing shut. "Now run, coward," I growled.

As I watched the ponderous Gates slam shut, I smiled. There was no way for the Walkers to get back through the Gates now, and the Faerie Queens would be on guard against something like Nemesis. Even if I failed, even if I fell in battle, my world would be safe. "You fool!" the monster raged. "What have you done? Do you _wish_ to die?"

'Die Alone.' I'd already fulfilled that death curse once, but I guess it didn't quite stick. So the universe was giving it a second go. I turned and stood tall against the monster. "Stop your yapping," I told it. "You're giving me a headache."

"What do you hope to accomplish?" the Walker laughed, closing in on me with a loping run. Super, it could go on all fours too. "You are alone! You are lost! You are mine! I will take you apart, piece by piece, and your screams will be music to my ears! You will scream for a death I will not grant you! Who are you to try and stand against me?!"

I closed my eyes. Sure, I was going to die alone. But you know what? I couldn't care less. Because dying alone meant that everyone else didn't die. Because right here, right now, I could stand and face this monster that was trying to destroy humanity, hell, heaven, and everything else. Murph. Molly. Thomas. Even Marcone, Lara, and those assholes Nicodemus and Kincaid. Hell's bells, even Mab and freakin' Odin.

And most importantly… My daughter, Maggie…

"Who am I?" I asked quietly. "I'm the one people call when things get strange and when there's no one else that can help."

Everything I've done, I've done to protect the people that were counting on me. I couldn't just give up and lie down when there was even one shred of will left in me. 'Lash, I'm gonna do something incredibly stupid,' I told her.

 _What else is new, Harry?_ she asked me with a twist of amusement. Then I gave her access to what I was planning, and her mental voice sobered immediately. _My host… Harry, if you do this... It will destroy you._ Left unspoken was the statement that when I died, so would she.

I smiled. 'I know, Lash. And for what it's worth, I wish there was some way to get you out of here.'

 _Do not fret, Harry._ I felt warm arms wrap around me. They weren't real, but I felt them – and maybe that made them real enough. _You are my partner, and I will stand by you to the end._ Phantom lips brushed my cheek.

'Thanks for everything, Lash.' I meant it, too. We might have started out as enemies, but over the years that transformed into an uneasy truce; after she came back from saving my life, we were partners through and through. I trusted her with my life and sanity.

He Who Walks Behind must have sensed something changing in the wind, because it roared, "Why? Why do you still fight? You know you can't hope to win!"

Why did I fight? I fought because people were counting on me to not give up. I fought because this was my world, damn it, and I wasn't gonna just roll over and let something that escaped from Lewis Carroll's drug-fueled nightmares destroy it. There were people I had to protect, no matter what happened to me.

As I thought about that, standing firm as the Walker charged me, I felt something inside me swell. It was my final trump card, the last ace up my sleeve – Soulfire. It was the fire of creation, the diametric opposite of Hellfire, and it burned up my soul for fuel. When that was gone, I'd end up dead. More than dead, really – what made me _me_ would be gone and there'd be no afterlife. I'd have ceased to exist. I wouldn't be able to come back as a ghost like I had the first time.

Soulfire was fueled by my soul, yeah, but it was more than that. It was the total sum of who I was, the amalgamation of every single decision I've ever made and every thought I've had. And right now, I was using every last bit of that power inside me, drawing on it regardless of the cost.

I would take He Who Walks Behind with me. I'd taken the two that came before him, and this would destroy the last of the Outsider's Walkers. Even if they came back, they'd remember what it meant to threaten my reality.

"Wizard!" He Who Walks Behind howled as it lunged.

I opened my eyes to see that our battlefield had changed to be the perfect place for my last stand – a gas station. "My Name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden," I pronounced.

And I unleashed every shred of raw Soulfire that I could gather in one giant blinding explosion.

Die Alone.

…Infinite blackness.

"…ost…my host… HARRY!"

"Lash?" I breathed, so very, very tired. I was cold. And something was broken. Something that should be in me was torn. Barely left. I was... breathing, but why was I breathing? There wasn't a... point...

"My host, you must focus."

Whatever was weak inside me, it was bolstered. Slowly I tried to sit up. "Lash?" I repeated, my voice firmer. "What happened to the Walker?" I couldn't see anything except for myself and Lash. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that there wasn't anything in existence except for me and Lash. As awareness came back, I took stock of my situation. I was... alive, for a certain definition of the word. My...soul was shattered. I'd sacrificed too much of it, and even now I could feel it trickling away. I'd disappear when it was gone, I knew. "Did we beat it?"

"I am uncertain, my host," she told me. "Its presence has disappeared, but there is no way of knowing whether the explosion of Soulfire was enough to destroy it, or merely to damage it so much that it retreated."

"Man," I sighed. "This was so much easier when all I had to do was kill an immortal or rob a god."

Lash giggled, but fell silent. "My host... Harry, you are dying," she said.

"No, I hadn't noticed." I tried for sarcastic, but I think I landed somewhere around exhausted.

"Your soul is disintegrating. You burned too much, and now you are paying the price."

I just laughed, letting myself float. My body... My physical body was gone, now, I think. Burned away in the Soulfire. And this form was what was left of my soul. I glanced down to see my body shattering a little bit at a time. "Well... Looks like this is the end of the line. Good knowing you, Lash." Lash didn't respond, and I hoped she hadn't disappeared. That would have sucked, not being able to chat with someone while I died. But she drew from my soul, so it made sense, I guess.

And then a pale light shone in the darkness above. I focused my weary eyes on it, and it took shape into a human figure. "Oh, hello," I murmured. "What are you doing here?" It floated down in front of me, reaching out. "You're... a soul," I mumbled. It was pale and flickering - dying. It reached out for my hand. "You sure? If we merge... I don't even know what'll happen. Or if we can."

Still, I took the hand and felt something inside me strengthen.

* * *

I opened my eyes and then immediately shut them. Turned out someone had the great idea to make things about twice as bright as they should be. "Ow," I declared, then realized that I wasn't dying any more. "Lash?" I mumbled. "Am I..."

 _It seems so, my host._ Her voice was a welcome sight - er, welcome sound. She sounded perfectly normal, if a bit worried. _You are alive, if a bit...different._

'Lash,' I groaned silently, 'don't say things like that. You know how that makes me feel.' I cautiously opened my eyes again. Hopefully the powers that be had turned down the lights in the last few seconds.

I found myself staring at a florescent light bulb. That gave out a tiny little pop and died a second later. Yep, good ol' anti-tech field is still active. The fact that I was even staring at something like that filled me with a strange mixture of relief and unease. For one, I was locked on the other side of the Gates, and they couldn't be opened any more, I'd made sure of that. So either I was insane -

 _While I doubt you'd notice the difference, you're as close to sane as you get, Harry._

\- or I was in some weird fever dream. A few other pops sounded and the light level died to an acceptable brightness, so I started to examine the room. White walls and ceiling, hanging drapes, a machine that seemed to have funny lines flickering across it, though it seemed to be having...problems...

'Lash?' I asked, doing my level best to stay calm. 'Am I in a HOSPITAL?'

 _I believe so,_ she confirmed, bringing my panic level from Defcon Three to Two. _I became aware only moments before you woke up, which would explain why the lights and machines are only now starting to fail._

"I have to get out of here," I muttered, forcing myself to sit up. The pain from my entire body was a huge red flag, since that meant it was either enough to get through the Mantle of Winter, or my magic was being suppressed. 'Lash, is that you?'

 _It is. I've taken the liberty to attempt to restrain your magic as much as possible,_ she told me. _It helps that your willpower was entirely drained. If you remain calm and move quickly, you should be able to get out of the hospital before it becomes too powerful._ Just the fact that she could do that would have been terrifying if I'd known about it back when she was trying to corrupt me. Now, though, I knew she was only able to suppress my magic because I was giving her permission.

'Roger that.' I pushed through the pain and stood up. My head felt dizzy for a second, and I swayed before getting my land legs again. 'Um... I feel shorter. Am I supposed to feel shorter?'

 _I will explain what I am aware of once we are outside._

I shrugged and looked around the room, removing the electrodes attached to my skin. With a quiet hiss of pain I slid the IV out of my arm, ripping the bloody needle off and glaring at it. If I was lucky, I'd be able to find some clothes somewhere and not have to wear this ugly hospital gown outside. For once, my typical terrible luck didn't hold, and I found a white shirt and jeans folded in a closet. After getting dressed and collecting the hospital gown and IV, I glanced at the window, then shook my head. I couldn't use Winter's Mantle, and my body was already damaged. A fall would be too much. I took a deep breath and opened the door to my room, ignoring the way my body ached with every movement.

Stepping outside, I was immediately greeted by a hallway; I glanced left and right and just decided to keep moving. Even though Lash was trying to keep my magic down, if I hung around and gawked I could still blow out a heart monitor or something. I glanced at one of the name cards on the wall beside a door, but couldn't read the moon runes. Then I blinked and the names were written in English. I smiled slightly and made a mental note to thank Lash later before running through another of the meditation exercises I'd learned as an apprentice.

In, out. In, out, I told myself as I wandered through the halls, looking for either a way out or a map that told me where I was. Lucky for me, I found the latter. Unlucky for me, a quick glance told me I was on the third floor. After a second a red line traced itself on the map. _This should be the fastest way out,_ Lash informed me. _You should still hurry, though I took care to ensure that we avoided the emergency ward._

'Good thinking', I told her as I memorized the route and started moving again. 'Now, all we have to do is get out of here without getting in trouble and we'll be golden.'

A nurse stepped out of a room just as I was approaching it and turned before starting. She started saying something that I couldn't comprehend a word of, and then mid-sentence I could understand her. "-oing up? Sir, where are you going?"

"Checking myself out," I said easily. "Have a nice day."

I started to move past her, but she reached out and grabbed my arm. "I'm sorry, but rules state that a patient must be -" My rising impatience must have made my magic strain against Lash's restraints, because the lightbulb right above us started glowing so brightly it literally shattered, raining glass shards down on the two of us. "Eek!"

"Sorry, gotta go," I murmured, tearing away and hurrying down the hall. Damn it Harry, keep your cool. Just gotta get outside and then figure out what's going on.

Imagine a can of soda. That can of soda is always being filled, a little bit at a time. That's kinda how my magic was - and when it spilled over, technology was affected. Now, imagine that the can was sealed. Now nothing's spilling out, and technology is fine. That was basically how the suppression spell worked. The only problem, and the reason I didn't rely on it if I didn't have to, is that the can never stops being filled. That means that the pressure inside the can is always being increased, more and more. Eventually, the seal will break, and things will end poorly. Which, if I didn't hurry, would mean my magic would burst out and fry every piece of electronics in the building.

I was able to slip downstairs and past the rest of the well-meaning nurses; the hallways were a little busier on the first floor, but everyone was minding their own business. That's it, pay no attention to the six-foot man hurrying outside in a hospital gown. Just keep doing your thing. I tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if my magic exploded out right now, when I was in the center of the hospital.

Lash sighed. _Shouldn't you be focused on keeping your cool?_

'Hey,' I argued, 'you know me. Cool as a cucumber. If I were any cooler, I'd be able to freeze -' Beside me, I heard a machine start beeping loudly as it malfunctioned, followed swiftly by a yelp of surprise. 'Okay, focusing now.' In, out. In, out.

I made my way through the halls and found myself in a wide open foyer. It was getting plenty of sunlight thanks to the massive glass doors on the other end of the room. My goal was in sight. All I had to do was make my way past all the people waiting in the room. And not get stopped by the well-meaning nurses. Stifling the urge to whistle jauntily, I ignored the looks that some people were sending my way. What? It's like they've never seen a guy running out of the hospital before.

I could feel my magic starting to push against Lash's control. Normally I'd be thrilled to have my power back, but right then it was gonna end really poorly. I could kill a TV set at a hundred paces just by looking at it funny, and with the amount of magic power I was used to handling nothing electronic managed to survive around me for long. Since I was in the hospital, full of delicate things keeping people alive, that would be pretty bad.

I was almost there, the doors were right ahead of me. I could see my freedom! Just a little bit more and then I could figure out just what the hell was going on.

I opened the door and stepped outside, just as Lash let go of my magic. I let loose a sigh of relief as Winter's Mantle reasserted itself and the aches and pains went away. 'That's better,' I told Lash. 'Thanks.' I tried my best to ignore how pretty much everybody talking on their cell phone had winced as my magic was released outwards, away from the hospital. I think I saw a traffic light flicker, but it rallied like a champ.

 _Of course,_ she said graciously. _Now, may I suggest you find some warmer clothes? A veil will work, but you would still feel the chill._ A pair of warm arms wrapped around my chest, her body pressing into my back, and I rolled my eyes. _And I can only do so much,_ she whispered.

'Cute,' I told her. With a quick focus of my will and a muttered, " _Vestimentum_ ," a veil sprang up around me, making it look like I was wearing my regular clothes, duster and glove included. It was a handy spell that I'd developed a few years ago that worked pretty well despite me being not exactly great when it came to veils. Looking left and right, I blinked and sighed. I had no idea where I was, so any direction was as good as any other one. 'Mind filling me in while I wander?'

 _Certainly. First and foremost, I believe that we are not in our creation anymore._

What.

I stumbled at her announcement and blinked before catching myself. 'What?' Yeah, I can see why she wanted to wait to tell me. If she'd laid that one on me while I was in the hospital, I could have blown the whole building's circuits. 'How is that possible?'

 _Do you remember, Harry, when your soul was fragmenting? The other soul that approached us and offered -_

Lash cut off suddenly as a firm hand gripped my upper arm. I bit off a curse as I whirled, clenching a fist, to see a woman holding me. She was wearing a labcoat with a more common pant, shirt, and tie combo underneath, which was a bit odd. Usually people went with one or the other, not both. Her silver hair and grey eyes were a bit striking, but what really caught my attention was the decidedly unamused glare on her face.

Beside us, a man cursed suddenly as his cellphone let out a pop and died. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air. Oops.

"There you are," the woman sighed. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Minato?"

I blinked, staring at her. There were so many things wrong with that sentence, I was dumbfounded. Fortunately for my reputation, my mouth runs on autopilot. "Oh, just taking a light stroll," it said. "It's a nice day out."

The woman watched me for a second, and then sighed, shaking her head. "Fuck, but I need a cigarette," she muttered. "Come on, let's go. I was heading to a meeting when the hospital called, saying you disappeared, and the meeting isn't exactly something I can blow off." She sighed again. "I guess I'll just be doing a tele-conference in the car instead. And if he doesn't like it, he can just suck it up and deal with it."

She started walking, all but dragging me along with her. After a second of stunned surprise, I pulled my arm free. "Um," I said intelligently, then trailed off as I noticed something very important. She'd grabbed my left arm, and in pulling free I caught sight of my hand. There was something wrong.

Namely, there wasn't.

My left hand had been a mass of burned flesh ever since I ran into a vampire with a flamethrower – another Wednesday, I think, come to think of it – and though it was healing steadily thanks to my wizardly wizardness, it was still enough to make me swear off hamburger for the next week or two every time I saw it. This hand was perfectly normal.

The woman stopped and looked at me as I stared at my undamaged hand. "What on Earth are you doing, Minato?"

 _My host..._ Lash broke in, sounding amused. _I should take this time to mention that you should probably look at your reflection._

I didn't know why she wanted me to look at myself, since I knew what I looked like. Like a hobo that hadn't shaved for at least a week, only twice as bad. Still, she nudged the muscles in my neck and I gave in, turning to look at the nearest window.

Someone completely different looked back at me.

Oh.

Super.

 _I believe that when you merged with that soul, enough of its 'self' had died that it was essentially... filler, as it were. As such, your consciousness is now inhabiting the body of this boy. Your physical body is his, now. We were fortunate that your magic is tied to your soul and not body, but I'm afraid that is the only thing that crossed over._

I just stared, ignoring the sharp words of the woman that had tried dragging me off. The clothes were mine; if I turned my head and squinted, the messy black hair could almost pass. But the face was foreign. I was never the traditional image of handsome – those genes went to my half-brother – and if pressed people might charitably call me scruffy-looking. This body, on the other hand, might almost be handsome, in a boyish sort of way. I wouldn't know – despite what those hairdressers at Thomas's salon think, I am very much not attracted to men. 'So what you're saying is,' I began slowly, 'we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto?'

 _I don't believe so, no. If anything, you'd be closer to an Outsider that has taken over this body - willingly given, of course._ Because that was really what we had to worry about, here. _From the language written and spoken, we are likely in this world's version of Japan._

I narrowed my eyes, watching the unfamiliar face mimic my expression. 'Just fantastic. I'm on the other side of the world in a completely different dimension, a woman that apparently knows who I used to be is trying to drag me somewhere, my EVERYTHING hurts, and to top it all off I look like I'm twenty.'

 _I believe you are nineteen, actually. I caught a brief glimpse of your medical chart as we were leaving the room._

Could this get any worse? 'I'm nineteen in someone else's body!'

 _You could be fifteen, I suppose,_ Lash mentioned idly.

Empty night. Have I mentioned that I really hate Wednesdays?

'So who's the woman?' I asked Lash absently, still trying to deal with the sudden loss of about half a foot and all the scars I'd managed to pick up over my long and illustrious career as punching bag for everything that had a beef with humans. I flexed my hand. It felt weird to feel it move without the stiffness. And to be able to look at it without losing my appetite. 'And why'd she call me Minato?'

 _If I were to guess,_ Lash said, _the mother of Minato Sahashi. Your mother, in other words._

I felt my heart skip a beat. Mom. The closest thing I'd ever had to knowing my mom was her voice thanks to something she left behind. The message she'd left behind in Thomas's soul, and the gem that fit into my pentagram. Things I'd never have again.

A mother's touch is important. Our mothers are the final line of defense as children, the ones that protect us from the things that go bump in the night. I never knew mine. And now the only things I had to remind me of her were gone.

I didn't realize I could miss something I'd never had as much as I did right then. I looked at the reflection and grimaced. That wasn't me. That was someone that was dead, and I was just wearing his body. 'Lash... Could you...' In a heartbeat, my reflection flickered. When I looked again, it showed me. Young Harry, how I'd looked when I was actually nineteen. 'Neat trick. Thank you, Lash.'

A beautiful woman appeared in the reflection next to me. Lash, the shadow of the fallen angel Lasciel. She could take on any form she wanted, since her appearance was just her playing with my brain to make me think I was seeing an attractive blonde in the window's reflection, but she tended to favor the tall and athletic look, wearing a Greek toga that fell to her knees. _Of course, Harry,_ she said. I knew that if I looked to the side she could make me see her, but I just smiled. After a heartbeat, she vanished.

I turned back to the woman. "Sorry about that," I said, cutting off what she was saying. "Let's take this from the top. You are...?"

She sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Very much regretting I left my cigarettes in the car... We'll talk once you're back in the hospital."

"Uh-uh," I said immediately. "That's a bad idea."

"And why, exactly, are you refusing?" she demanded. "Christ, I don't need this right now..."

I sighed. "Because all the expensive electronics in that place are kinda important and I'd rather not break them all. Can we just... find a place to talk about this that's not on the street?" People were starting to give us looks. Jealous of my fashion sense, obviously.

 _Obviously,_ Lash snorted.

'Quiet, you.'

The woman sighed again and shook her head. "Oh, whatever. Come on, we'll talk in the car." I shrugged. It was better than standing around in the street, even though there was a good chance the car would break down within minutes.

I followed her down the street, back toward the hospital. The woman stopped next to a car that could feasibly pass as a limo. "Get in and we'll talk. By the way, what happened to your clothes? I know I've never seen you wear anything like that before."

"Magic," I said wisely, and then opened the door for her. She raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else and got in.

I got in after her and closed the door behind me. The car was comfortable, but the air conditioning immediately cut out a few seconds later. The woman looked irritated and tapped on the glass separating the back of the car from the front and said something when the glass slid to the side. After a few seconds, she sat back, scowling even harder. I very carefully didn't say anything about it being my fault.

"Ah? Who have we here, Takami?"

I glanced at the car's other occupant out of the corner of my eye. I had noticed her when I got in, of course; it would be impossible not to notice someone like her. Long, pale gray hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and her grey eyes were narrowed with interest. I was very careful not to let our eyes meet; her small smile sent shivers down my spine. It was like looking at Mab smile. She was wearing a long grey coat with a strange symbol on its lapel, though she didn't have her arms through the sleeves. Under the coat was a... very flattering black leather top that hugged her body and made sure everyone was aware of every curve. Her black miniskirt was just barely long enough to qualify as clothing, and her stockings covered most of her skin but left a small swath of creamy flesh between the top of the stocking and the bottom of the skirt. She was a very attractive woman - not inhumanely beautiful in the way of the Fae, but unearthly; she could definitely give a White Court succubus a run for her money.

Possibly multiple White Court members, though for the sake of the plurals involved I hope not.

 _Oh, Harry,_ Lash sighed. So I notice these things. What of it?

Still, I wasn't relaxed, a shouted command away from starting to throw fire everywhere. That would be because of the large sword she was carrying across her lap.

It would also be because her aura was soaked with blood, so thick I could almost taste it. I resolved not to think about it until I was alone in a room, preferably with quick access to a toilet.

Sadly, this wasn't even the worst I'd ever dealt with. That fact alone said way too much about what my daily life was like.

"Karasuba, this is my son Harry. Harry, Karasuba," the woman - Takami, apparently - said before pulling out a thin laptop from somewhere in her lab coat. I was going to say something, but she opened it up and it started running no problem. Which was weird, since the car's AC system already died and the laptop was both closer to me and more delicate. I'd managed to fry at least ten phones just by standing on the sidewalk, so how was it that the laptop was still running? "Harry, we'll talk after I have my meeting."

I shrugged. It wasn't really like I had anything better to do. 'By the way, Lash, thanks for automatically using my name when you translate this.'

 _It involves no extra work,_ she murmured. _And I thought you'd appreciate it._

'You thought right.' I coughed and looked at Karasuba. She disturbed me on several levels. First off, I'm pretty sure that carrying a sword around like that wasn't exactly normal. And there was that smile. It was a calm smile, almost cheerful in a way. Coupled with what I could sense of her tainted aura, it brought to mind that time when Mab pulled string after string to manipulate Nicodemus to wasting the favor she had owed him while at the same time ensuring that he sacrificed everything while only obtaining the bare minimum that would fulfill her end of the agreement.

In other words, that smile was spooky and I didn't like it.

"Is there something on my face?" It took me a second to realize she was talking to me. "...Harry?"

I bristled at the disdain in her voice. The car's engine sputtered for a second before resuming business as usual. Takami didn't even notice, and her laptop didn't flicker for a second. Seriously, what was up with it? That thing should have given up and started whistling Dixie a while ago. "Just wondering what's up with the sword," I said once I had my temper back at reasonable levels. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the whole Kill Bill thing went out of style a while ago."

"Is that so?" Karasuba mused. "Are you saying you'd like to see it bared?"

"Not until after the first date," I replied promptly. She blinked, and then laughed politely. Somehow, I don't think she was amused despite my well-documented sense of humor; the sudden surge of killing intent that accompanied the laugh seconded that thought.

Laughter's an important sound to us humans. One type of laughter is good laughter. It's something that comes from the soul, from that place deep within us that makes us who we are. It can warm our hearts and set us at ease. It reminds us of the good things in life, like friends, family, and a bottle of Mac's beer.

That kind of laughter, I didn't hear much in my line of work.

The second kind of laughter comes from something inhuman. It comes out twisted and dark, a funhouse-mockery of what laughter should be. It twists the insides and raises the hair on the back of our necks because we know that whatever's making that sound isn't human. It's missing something in it that we hear in our laughs, something that we seek out instinctively. It's easy enough to experience it first-hand – just go to the nearest zoo and listen to a hyena laugh.

Safer than tickling an ogre, at any rate.

Karasuba's laugh was the third kind of laugh, the kind of laugh that comes from kids that don't know any better and from cruel adults that want to crush their opponents, see them grovel before them. It was a laugh that was full of hatred and disdain. I swallowed. "You're frightened, aren't you?" she asked, watching me out of the corner of her eyes.

"Sure am," I said easily. "But honestly, I've dealt with nastier things than you." Sure, she seemed dangerous. Probably one of the more dangerous people I'd met, in terms of how quickly she'd kill me if given half an excuse. But I'd tangled with Walkers from the Outside, and after dealing with Saruman, a Ringwraith just didn't really rate. "Hell's bells, you're not even the scariest thing I've had to deal with today. So how about you calm down before I show you exactly what I did to those things?"

It wasn't exactly a bluff. When it came to her, my Wizard sense was tingling. She was definitely powerful, I could sense that ever since I sat down in the car. Whatever she was, she wasn't human, and that let me fight without having to worry about breaking the Rules. Still, if we had to throw down in the car I'd probably be at a disadvantage without my duster or any of my magical gizmos, and to make things worse Takami was still glaring at her screen. If I got into a fight, she'd be dragged into it.

"How brave," Karasuba murmured, her smile widening even more. At this point, her eyes were crinkled into thin slits. "Perhaps you'll be an entertaining one to fight..."

Magic answered my call as I tensed, ready to attack or defend myself, and for a heartbeat we sat frozen, watching each other and waiting for someone to make the first move. Then we were interrupted by Takami's heavy sigh. She sighed a lot, I'd noticed. "Oh, for the love of... Damn it, Minaka, I've told you a hundred times! That won't work and you know it!"

"But Takami!" another voice whined. "It'd be so much fun!"

Karasuba and I paused in our posturing and eyed Takami. She was glaring daggers at the laptop. Whatever was happening, it was definitely pissing her off. Which didn't seem to take much. Maybe being pissed off was her natural state. Takami just snorted. "You're only suggesting this again because I'm not there in person to hit you over the head."

I glanced at Karasuba. "Does this happen often?"

Her smile faded and the bloodlust went down a bit, letting me relax my grip on my magic. It faded away and I sat a little more comfortably in my seat. "She's your mother. You tell me."

I just looked away. My mother was dead, and Takami hadn't done much to endear herself to me. "You know what?" the woman snapped. "Fine. I don't even care anymore. Do whatever the hell you want." With a final burning glare - I'm surprised that the laptop hadn't burst into flames from her glare either - she slammed it closed and tucked the laptop back into wherever she'd been storing it before. "Hah... God damn asshole..." She shook her head. "Alright. Now that that's taken care of, Harry, would you care to explain exactly what you were thinking, running away from the hospital in your condition?"

I sighed. Looks like we were back to that. "Like I told you, there's important machines in there, and I'd rather not accidentally blow up a life support machine."

Takami looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "What are you talking about?"

"Magic," I told her seriously.

She waited, but that was all I was going to give her. "They mentioned there might be head trauma," she muttered under her breath, pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead, "but I think this is pushing it."

"Now that we've established that I wasn't running away for the exercise," I said, "can it be my turn to ask some questions?" Takami just waved at me with her free hand. "Okay, I think we'll start things off with who exactly are you?"

That question managed to startle Takami, her already pale face going whiter. "What?"

I was pretty sure I hadn't stuttered, and I trusted Lash's translation. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you are. The only reason I know your name is because the Bride here said it." Karasuba barked out a short laugh.

"This is unreal..." Takami closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Can you remember anything? Anything at all?"

I shrugged. I could remember plenty of things, but if I told her any of them I'd probably be committed. Or attacked by Karasuba. Either way, it wasn't like I could tell them I was really 40-odd years old and from a different dimension.

So I went with Option B: play stupid. 'Don't say a word, Lash,' I told her preemptively.

Lash giggled. _I wouldn't dream of suggesting that you'd do more than merely play stupid, Harry._

Grumble, grumble, grumble, stupid fallen angels. Is it too late to trade this one out for a newer model?

"Fantastic," Takami muttered. "Amnesia... I knew we should have taken you to one of our centers..." She shook her head. "Karasuba, it looks like our plans are going to be canceled. You can go ahead without me."

"My, my," Karasuba drawled, obviously amused by this whole fiasco. "If you're certain I can be let off the leash, I will leave you two to your... mother-son bonding, then. Have fun..." With a final smile, she moved past me to open the car door and let herself out. I made sure not to actually touch her – I might have been able to keep from gagging earlier, but if she touched me, I wasn't sure what would happen.

For a while after Karasuba left, Takami and I sat in silence. Eventually she shook her head. "We might as well start moving while I start talking." She leaned forward and said something to whoever was driving.

"Where are we going?" The engine of the car had managed to survive my presence and veil, though the stereo system had given up the ghost sometime between when Karasuba and I started getting into a pissing match now.

"Your apartment," Takami said.

On the way to the apartment, Takami filled me in on everything 'I' had forgotten. 'I' - that is to say, Minato Sahashi - was a college-age student struggling to actually make it into college. The entrance tests were fairly rigorous, it seemed, and I'd failed to make the grade the first time around. So I'd attended a prep school and studied hard in order to make it into school again. Only there had been an accident. Three days ago, a day before the test, I'd been in a traffic accident, and sunk into a coma. According to Takami, I had struck my head against the pavement, and the doctor had warned her there was the possibility for a shift in personality or other brain problems.

I very studiously ignored Lash's comments on the latter half of that.

Thanks to the accident I'd missed the entrance test. Which was probably a blessing in disguise - I was the proud owner of a hard-earned G.E.D., which meant that college was probably a little out of my wheelhouse. Besides, what's learning trigonometry compared to learning how to harness the mystical forces of magic? At least, that was my excuse when I was blowing off school.

As for the family side of things, Takami worked for some pharmaceutical company, and given the way she was giving Karasuba orders she had to be fairly high up there in the chain of command. The way she was very carefully avoiding telling me the name of the company she worked for was a small red flag; you don't survive among the Winter Court without learning how to smell a dodge from a mile away, after all. Being able to dance over the frozen corpse of anyone that offended Mab was pretty high on the resume too, but I don't think that's going to be very applicable here.

After a brief interruption where she answered a call on her cell and proceeded to run rough-shod over anything the person on the other side was trying to say, she told me about my sister Yukari, who was a year younger than me. That was a weird thing to learn; I'd only had a half-brother before, and he was an incubus. We only met when we were both fully grown, which meant that I grew up without having a sibling at all. But Minato had grown up with Yukari.

He'd also grown up without a father – apparently, he left after Yukari was born.

Good to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

She showed me a picture on her phone - it was of her, Yukari, and Minato when they were just kids. Something deep inside me stirred when I saw that picture. They looked like such a happy family, Yukari in her pink shirt throwing up a V as she beamed at the camera. Minato seemed a little shocked that the picture was being taken. Takami was smiling, arms around her children. When I asked her what happened to her hair - it matched Yukari's and Minato's color in the picture - she just laughed and said it wasn't polite to mention something like that to a woman.

Before long, we arrived at the apartment. It was a pretty run-down place, but it looked cheap, the kind of place a poor college student would have rented. It reminded me a lot of where I used to stay, actually, before Malcone converted it into an anti-everything magical bunker. Unlike my old apartment, though, this one was on the second floor, which meant it was going to be difficult to set up a workshop. It was about as small as my old apartment; there was a small table in the center of the room and a ratty couch off to the side, with a few bookcases along the wall. There was a small kitchenette next to the door, and I did my best to stay far away from the fridge. It would be difficult to explain why the fridge died just because I walked near it - and besides, there might be food in there. I seriously doubted it, but a man can dream, can't he?

A cursory exploration found a bathroom and shower off to the side and a second room behind a sliding door. There was a small TV on a stand, but more importantly a closet with clothes in it that looked like they'd fit me. As I was prowling, Takami had to take a call outside, so while she was outside talking on the phone I let the veil drop with a sigh of relief. I was just no good at the things, and it was a struggle to keep that one going for as long as I had. I eyed the hospital gown and then sighed, balling it up and dropping it on the floor. I'd burn it and the needle the first chance I got, just in case there were other practitioners about. I slid the second door closed just as Takami came in. "So how about it?" she asked. "Anything seem familiar?"

I took another second to look around the room, then shook my head. "Nope. It's like I've never been here before."

She frowned. "Hm... Look, Harry, I've got work. Here..." She dug in her labcoat and pulled out a wallet. She rifled through it before handing me a few bills. "This should cover dinner for tonight and breakfast tomorrow. I'll take you around town, and we'll see if anything seems familiar." She paused, but I just nodded. "Harry, I..." Her phone rang again, and she grabbed it. "What?" she snapped. "...Oh, for - I'm coming. I'll be right there." She snapped the phone shut and pocketed it again. "I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

I was already moving to open the door for her. "I'll see you then," I said.

She gave me another look, and then stopped just outside the door. "And Harry... I'm glad you're okay." I managed a weak smile and she left. I closed the door behind her.

The light in the room exploded, plunging me into darkness.

"Just great," I sighed. "Lash, could you, please?"

Immediately after I asked her, it was like a light switch was flicked in my brain. I knew it was still dark in the room, but to me it looked like the lights had turned on. I turned around to see her daintily picking her way through the glass shards on the floor and table, not moving a single one. Not surprising, since she only existed in my mind, but still irritating. After crossing the glass-littered carpet, she sat down on the couch and folded her legs, looking around with interest. "It's rather small," she said finally. "But I suppose we couldn't ask for anything better."

I grunted something vaguely related to English as I opened a window to let some real light in and searched for something to clean the glass up with. "So, what do you think about... all this?" I asked.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that this isn't our creation," she sighed. "We are the Outsiders here, and everything I've seen seems to suggest that had you not shared your soul with Minato Sahashi, we would not be corporeal right now. Much in the same way the Walker was only visible in reflections the first time you encountered it," she added after a second. "What has interested me is the technology this world seems to possess."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," I said, sweeping up the glass shards with the dustbin I'd found under the sink. "You're talking about how Takami's phone and laptop were working even after everything else broke, right? 'Cause that was weird. Maybe it's got some sort of new circuits or something."

"Perhaps," she nodded, then frowned. "There is one other thing, my host. That... woman in the car."

I paused, then frowned. Karasuba. The aura of blood around her wasn't new. I'd encountered places like that, places so seeped in bloodshed and death that it'd become part of the aura. I'd even run into a few people with that kind of aura, mainly warlocks and the Knights of the Denarii. And if that wasn't a glowing review of her character, I didn't know what was. But there was something else, not covered by the blood she was soaked in. "She wasn't human, was she? She was something like..." I trailed off and scowled. "Actually, I have no idea what she was," I admitted. "I've never seen anything that gave off that kind of magical wavelength. Have you?"

She sighed. "I have not either, and that is what bothers me. I am not... used to not recognizing things." She smiled after that. "I look forward to learning as much as I can about them."

"Well, Karasuba was definitely bad news," I muttered. "Seriously, she gave me the creeps. She works with Takami, though, so... I guess we might see her again." Then I shrugged as I sat on the couch next to Lash. "Well, I try not to let homicidal maniacs ruin my day, so I think I'll get over it."

Lash smiled. "As resilient as ever. For the moment, however, I believe you should look into finding a place to eat. Your body has, after all, been in a coma for several days now." Which reminded me. With a wave of my hand, the hospital gown and IV needle burst into flames. I was careful not to let it spread, though, and a quick _Ventas Servitas_ blew the smoke and ashes out of the window.

I groaned and stood up. "Might as well. Then we can see to setting some wards up." The threshold on the apartment wasn't fantastic, but it was still there. And I was feeling a little vulnerable without my suite of wards protecting the door.

After all, it might be paranoid, but that didn't mean there weren't monsters like Karasuba roaming the streets.

* * *

 **HM! What's this?!**

 **It's a crossover, that's what this is. Now, my last 'foray' into crossovers ended in a spectacular failure. With luck, this story won't end up the same. That being said, my attitude towards this story is back and forth between "I'll do okay, just make sure I focus on making it a good story" and "Oh holy fuck what the fucking fuck am I doing there is no way this is going to end well this is going to be a shitty story just like Shared Strength ohfuckohfuckohfuck." Which is fun. Unlike Shared Strength this one** _ **is**_ **a passion project, so if it crashes and burns...**

 **I am also apparently incapable of taking a break between stories so... yeah.**

 **Anyway, I had this idea after binging through the Sekirei manga for the second or third time and reading over my favorite segments of a few Dresden books (particularly, the Harry vs Sharkboy scene). What really sparked it was the realization that winging the Sekirei was supposed to 'fix' what was wrong with the Ashikabi… Though that's not quite right. Perhaps it would be better to say winging the Sekirei draws out the best of the Ashikabi. Regardless, I got to thinking, the winging is kinda like sharing the soul (it's basically a marriage ritual, right?) and Harry's magic comes from the soul, and then things just… spiraled out of control from there.**

 **Before anyone says anything – and I know this will come up – this story's been in the works for a long time. Since 2014, actually; that's why Lash is the 'brain parasite'. Skin Game wasn't out yet, we didn't know that the parasite was actually his and Lash's daughter; and with the way Lash left him the gift of being able to play guitar (or hear good music when playing guitar, it's not very clear especially given the nature of Lash) I figured that she was the source, just lying dormant. Harry heals from the brain damage over time, and Lash comes back. By the time Skin Game came out, the rough outlines of the story were set in stone, especially with Harry and Lash's interactions, and I like their dynamic too much to restructure the characters. I have, however, tried to incorporate the events of Skin Game where it would make sense.**

 **Anyway, feedback is greatly appreciated – Harry's voice is steadfastly refusing to come to me, so I'm doing my best with what I have. Still, I feel iffy about it, so any suggestions on how to make Harry sound more Harry-like would be appreciated.**

 **As for the contents of this chapter, it was entirely setting the stage. How Harry gets to the Sekirei-verse, and what's going on. More details will be coming in later chapters, especially related to how he's interacting with his new family. So far there's no call for a M rating, though if that changes in the future then so will the rating.**

 **As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed, though I reserve the right to ignore them and do my own thing.**


	2. Second Spell

**The Second Spell**

* * *

Before, I only used to run whenever I needed to blow off some steam. Nowadays, I do it regularly.

I'm a firm believer in running. It was an essential skill when going up against something that could squash me by just stepping to the side. I was just a squishy human, Winter's Mantle notwithstanding, and so my best strategy was to avoid getting into range.

There was something almost hypnotic about running, at least on pavement. I was able to just turn my mind off and focus on keeping my footing, and that was always helpful, especially when I was working on a tough case.

Running was also excellent exercise, something that this body sorely needed. My body had been in a coma for a few days, and it hadn't been in fantastic shape before that. If things like Karasuba were running around, I needed to be prepared - and, unfortunately, that meant I had to haul my lazy ass out of bed at ungodly-o'clock every morning and go for a jog.

Plus I'd gotten used to doing parkour in the tunnels under Demonreach when I was bored. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to long tunnels filled with imprisoned eldritch abominations, so the early-morning streets of Shin Tokyo had to do as the next best thing.

I ran through the mostly-empty streets of the town, ignoring the few looks I got. I was six feet tall, after all, and even though I'd lost six inches during the transfer I was still taller than almost everybody around me. Nothing that was new to me, anyways. I followed my usual route, taking a few back-alleys here and there when it looked like there was going to be traffic up ahead. I passed the trashcans and fire escapes with a sideways glance. I wanted to try out my parkour, but Lash had cautioned against it and I'd agreed with her. The Winter's Mantle might have made me feel like a hundred bucks, but my body was still recovering. No sense in pushing things when I didn't have to.

Eventually I'd worked up a nice sweat and turned for home, retracing my steps. On the way home I kept an eye out for a cat I'd been asked to find. Apparently, Mister Fluffy had escaped from the house a few days ago, and the little girl that owned had been upset enough that her parents had turned to me.

The first thing I'd done was get some more business cards printed out and started handing them out to anyone that looked remotely interested. They were the same as they'd always been, and it was good to have at least something to remind me of home. Most people just took them to get the weird lunatic out of their face, but I'd gotten a few jobs here and there. Barely enough to pay the first month of rent, in fact. I was getting close to needing some money for this month's rent, too. And to do that, I needed to find that cat.

Man, I missed Mister.

There was just something about having someone to come home to that made an apartment feel like a home. Something that made the home feel warmer. I'd noticed it when Thomas had crashed at my apartment a while back, even if half the time I'd felt sympathetic towards Cain. Unfortunately, Minato hadn't owned a pet, and I wasn't exactly the best pet owner around. It didn't help that half the time I hadn't been able to feed myself, let alone something that relied on me for food.

To the sad cries of my bank account I hadn't found the cat on my way home. Sweating, I trudged up the steps to my apartment and unlocked the door, disarming the wards with a brief use of will. The sun had just come up, sending its rays through the small windows, and I sighed. Home sweet home. The threshold wasn't great - I'd only been living here for a month and a half, after all - but it'd do. "Lash," I grunted, "when I get out of the shower, remind me to head over to the cat's house and get some of its hair, would you?"

 _I'm not your day planner, Harry,_ she sighed. _But very well._

That taken care of, I stripped off my shirt and tossed it into the laundry bin where it landed with the other white shirts. Minato had... rather plain tastes. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't going to pull a Molly and dye my hair three different colors, but wearing a shirt a color other than white once in a while would have been a nice luxury.

And I still hadn't found a shop that sold a duster yet, which was both incredibly depressing and a bit dangerous. In the meantime, I'd taken to sewing the protective enchantments on the two coats Minato had owned, even if they weren't as good protection as a duster provided.

Yes. That's exactly why I wanted the duster. Not because the way it flapped in the wind made me feel manly.

The shower was cool at best, something that didn't surprise me in the least. Hot water was a luxury I had only been given the first few days of living in the apartment, until the heater gave out. The landlord had tried to fix it a few times, but it just wouldn't work and in the end I told him not to worry about it. I'm pretty sure the crotchety old geezer blamed me for breaking it. Not that he was wrong, mind, but not in the way he thought it was my fault. Still, I was used to taking a shower without any heat, and I was in and out before the water turned ice cold.

I got dressed in yet another white shirt and jeans, then shrugged on the brown winter coat I'd been working on. Most of the runes I'd stitched onto the inside had to do with protection from blades, mainly because of Karasuba and her sword. Once I was fully dressed, I grabbed my wallet and keys and headed for the door.

 _Aren't you forgetting something, Harry?_ Lash asked, sounding amused.

I paused, hand on the doorknob, then smacked myself in the forehead. "Right, I keep forgetting." I backtracked to the table and grabbed my new cell phone.

It had been a gift from Takami, a brand-new phone from MBI. It had been part of the shopping trip she'd taken me on the day after I'd been released from the hospital, along with a few others odds and ends that I'd found missing in the apartment. I'd done my best to avoid going near the fridge and somehow it was still running, but it had been all but empty. Takami had taken one look at the fridge, sighed something that sounded remarkably like 'college students', and then offered to pay for my groceries. She'd offered to pay for my rent, too, before I politely declined her almost desperate generosity.

I wish my relationship with Takami had been like the ones in those romance novels Elaine had loved so much - that we'd just immediately clicked and settled into a mother-son relationship. That would have made the current situation so much less awkward.

Takami was a mystery to me, if I was going to be completely honest. The closest thing I'd ever had to a mother was... God, it's depressing when it takes more than a minute to think of the answer to that. The closest thing I'd had to a mother was Mab, in the sense that she could give me orders and there wasn't really anything I could do about it.

When your maternal surrogate was the Queen of Air and Darkness, there was something wrong with your life.

And the whole interaction between my Queen and me meant that I didn't exactly know how to treat Takami. On one hand, she was basically a stranger to me. I woke up and she claimed to be my mother, and I believed her. The photo of her, Yukari, and Minato had been enough proof, even if Lash hadn't backed her statement. And that just made things worse, since it would have been easier if we'd actually been strangers. I'd always been self-sufficient, ever since being orphaned, and I was used to handling everything myself - even when I didn't have to, a traitorous part of my mind whispered. I'd have blamed it on Lash, but I was pretty sure it wasn't her. Either way, I grew up without parents and that was part of the problem, because on the other hand, I wasn't a stranger to her.

I might have come from another world, but I was a father. I understood what it meant to have your child in danger. Children were what we loved and cherished, what our whole species was geared towards protecting. They were our future and everything that we needed to protect. When your child is in danger, you take up anything and everything that you need to rescue them. You do whatever it takes.

And Takami couldn't do anything to rescue Minato. She must have been shaken to her core when she got that phone call saying that her son had been hospitalized. Then, a few days later, her son had woken up, lost his memory, and started acting completely different. I could hear it in her voice, the way she was trying so desperately to be a mother to me. The way she looked out for me and tried to be responsible.

It was a little jarring, to be honest. I kept expecting to turn around and wake up in Arctis Tor, this whole thing just a fever dream.

It wasn't her fault that I was the one that woke up. She had memories of raising Minato as a child, holding him in her arms and watching him learn to read and write. Of helping him up when he was learning how to walk. And then, out of nowhere, someone other than her son came back, someone that had no idea who she was. I couldn't blame her for trying her hardest to connect with me.

I mean, I wasn't Father of the Year by any stretch, but I'd be devastated if Maggie were to forget all about me.

But all that was neither here nor there, because a light on my new phone was blinking. I stared at the flashing light, sighing. I'd missed a call, and it had come in while I was out on my run. I was going to have to return it.

And not even the novelty of being able to actually use a cell phone changed the fact that the call was going to be super awkward. I sighed again. 'Lash, do you think we can get away with not returning Takami's call?'

 _I sincerely doubt it. She's proven to be very persistent in the past._

'And if I don't call her back, she's going to swing by the place,' I groaned. 'Hell's bells, why can't things ever be simple? Like they were before I woke up?'

Lash laughed. _Simple. You consider being the protector of Chicago simple?_

'Back then, all I had to do was beat up the bad guy of the week and that was the end of it,' I grumbled. 'Now I have to figure out how to talk to my mother.' Still, I flipped open the phone and hit a few buttons. It'd taken me a few days to figure out how the little machine worked, but I'd taken to it pretty quickly. I couldn't use it for much, of course, since it still needed to be charged fairly regularly; somehow my electricity was still active, but I had no idea how much longer it would last.

Since I kinda needed my phone for business calls, I also needed electricity.

I held my phone to my ear and waited for the call to connect. I knew I wouldn't have to wait long - Takami always answered her phone on the first ring, no matter what. She must have kept it on her at all times. There might have been the occasional shouting or explosions in the background of the call, but I tended to ignore those as a matter of course. They were familiar enough to me, after all, and I'm pretty sure Takami appreciated the lack of questions. Besides, they weren't the type of explosions that meant a building was about to burn down, they were the type that meant an experiment went wrong. It spoke volumes about my life experiences that I could tell between the two just from sound.

"Harry," Takami said immediately once she picked up the call, "you didn't answer when I called you earlier. Is everything alright?"

I rolled my eyes. "Everything's fine, Takami, I was just out on my run and I forgot my phone. I'm not used to it yet."

There was a pause, and I listened to the faint shouting in the background. Sounded like someone had screwed something up. "You know you should let me know when you go jogging, Harry," she said a little sternly.

"I go every morning at the same time," I told her. This wasn't the first time we'd had this discussion, so it was less an argument and more a familiar series of words. "And I usually get back around the same time too. Plus, I can take care of myself."

"I know," she sighed. "I'm just worried. I almost lost you once, Harry. I don't want it to happen again." I didn't really know how to respond to that, so I didn't say anything. We were still awkward around each other, but we were figuring things out slowly but surely. Part of it was my steadfast refusal to call her 'Mom', I think. At the very least, I knew that every time I called her Takami her face would show pain for just an instant. The first time brought tears to her eyes.

Some part of me had been insistent that Takami reacting like that was wrong in a way the universe shouldn't allow.

"So, anyway," she said, breaking the awkward silence by changing the subject. "How is your, ah... work going?" she finished lamely.

I hadn't been surprised to get a phone call a few days after I started handing out the cards. She'd been less than enthusiastic about me claiming to be a wizard, but she'd settled down when I explained the story I'd made up - that it was mainly to attract attention and that I was just putting myself out there for investigative services. I still wasn't good at lying, but creatively telling the truth? I guess the Sidhe had corrupted me more than I wanted them too. At that point, she'd apparently pulled some string or another and gotten me certified as a detective, which was pretty awesome of her. The only reason I didn't show her my magic was because she was working with something like Karasuba.

If I had to kill Karasuba, I didn't want her knowing my secrets. And something told me that if Takami knew, Karasuba would eventually find out.

"Work's fine," I told her, sitting down and pulling my boots on. "I was actually about to head out. Someone's cat ran away and they wanted me to see if I could find it."

"You know you don't have to do this," she said, a little desperately. "I can help pay for your rent while you recover and get back on your feet, you don't -"

I closed my eyes, sighing. "Takami," I said quietly. "I want to do this. I want to feel like I'm being more than just a burden on you." It was the gentlest way of saying that I didn't want to ask her for anything she hadn't already given. As much as I appreciated her willingness to help, I didn't want to owe her anything more than I already did.

"You wouldn't be a burden!" she said immediately.

"But _I_ think I'll be a burden," I told her. She didn't say anything, and I knew she couldn't say anything to that. So I decided to shift the subject of the conversation. "Anyway, we've gotten off topic. What did you call for originally, anyway?"

"Oh!" she said, and I could imagine her shaking her head. "Right. Sorry. Work is..." She trailed off and I heard more shouting in the background. She shouted something back. "It's being difficult," she said with a sigh after turning back to the phone. "So, the reason I called is because of Yukari."

I grimaced. "Oh. Swell."

The relationship between me and Takami was strained at best; neither of us knew how to treat the other. There were at least three awkward pauses in any given conversation I had with her, and hanging up usually left both of us feeling uneasy. But that was only small potatoes compared to Yukari.

Takami had mentioned that Yukari took my accident hard, when she heard about it. I'd thought that meant she'd cried and fell apart, and I felt like the biggest heel. Then I found it that it meant that Yukari had cried and then gotten determined. She was... energetic, the first time I got a call from her. So energetic I'd needed to hold my phone away from my ear at least arm's length. It wasn't that I didn't like Yukari, it's just that, well, I liked my hearing a little bit more. And to be honest, I had no idea how to treat a little sister. It was more or less the same problem as with Takami, only ten times worse.

I'd never had a mother. But I'd had a half-brother, who frustrated me as much as I frustrated him at times, and I'd had an apprentice. With experiences like those I figured I'd be able to handle a little sister, but somehow, Yukari managed to put them all to shame.

"Yes, well, I think she's calmed down a bit," Takami said. "In any event, she's been accepted to a local college. She mentioned wanting to surprise you with a visit to celebrate."

Oh boy. "Thanks for the heads up," I said. "Well, I've gotta get going. That cat isn't going to find itself."

"Okay, Harry," Takami said. She went quiet, and for a second I thought she'd hung up. "Harry, I... I wasn't the greatest mother to you before," she said quietly. "I know that. And I want to be a better mother now that we have the chance to start over."

I closed my eyes and frowned. A part of me desperately wanted to say yes, and actually have a mother. That same part of me that wanted to have a sister. To have family. I'd dreamed of having a normal family ever since my Dad passed away and I was orphaned. It was one of the few dreams I'd managed to hold on to through everything, actually. Maggie was a huge step toward getting that dream. I loved my little girl and she loved me right back.

But the thing was, Takami was _Minato's_ mom, not mine. I already felt guilty enough stealing his name and his body, however freely given they may have been; I couldn't take his family, too.

No matter how much I wanted to.

God damn it. God damn it all.

"I'm sorry, Takami," I said. "I still don't remember you... But I'm sure you were a great mom."

She sighed. "I'll talk to you later, Harry."

"Later." I flipped the phone closed and pressed it to my forehead, eyes clenched shut. Then, with a grunt, I tossed the phone to the side.

 _Harry..._

I took a deep breath and decided to deal with things the way men usually did. That is, compartmentalize, lock it away, and then lose the key. "Alright, Lash, let's get to work."

Like I'd expected, the girl's home had plenty of cat hair just lying around. If cleaning up after Mister had taught me anything, it's that if a cat was in a house for any length of time there was going to be cat fur somewhere no matter how careful the cleaners were. I used to have cleaners that were literally fairies and they couldn't get all of it. So there was absolutely no way a regular baseline human could clean the house.

Either way, I twisted enough of the hair into a thin ring that I could make into a pendant for a bracelet. I'm good with fire and I've got enough power to fling pretty much anyone around, but my roots were in finding people rather than setting them on fire.

Thaumaturgy: as above, so below. It's the basic principle behind voodoo dolls, basically. The shaman uses some part of the target to create a link between the part and the whole. Blood was an especially potent catalyst - it was why I set the IV and hospital clothes on fire. If a wizard had your blood, they could track you to the end of the Earth, shove an icepick of force straight up your nose, or, y'know, make your heart burst out of your chest. All very, very bad things, and why wizards were so careful with their blood. Hair was usable as well, if a little less powerful than blood, and so here we were.

Since cats shed so much, it was only a weak link, but despite what those fogies in the White Council claimed thaumaturgy was my real specialty. I had the tracking spell up and running within minutes, and then I was off to track down a cat.

I let the tugging lead me wherever it wanted. If I were trying to locate someone that was stationary, I would be wandering around town in a rough circle with a map, triangulating its position; but because I doubted the cat was just sitting around, I needed to follow where the spell led me. Of course, this meant I was wandering around town aimlessly, staring at a bracelet that had a ring made of cat hair on it.

People were trying not to stare and failing pretty poorly.

"Is that you, Dresden?"

I stopped and looked around. Then I spotted someone walking toward me with an easy grin. He looked a little younger than me, so I decided to hazard his age at around seventeen or eighteen. He was wearing a cheap but good suit, if I was any judge. And I was - burn enough of them, and the quality of the ash starts to correspond to the value of it. I'll never figure out why the bad guys love wearing suits. Maybe it's a dress code thing. "If I'm not, he'll be pretty mad I'm wearing his clothes," I said. Who the heck is this?

"I heard about your accident," the guy said. "You feeling okay?"

Well, one thing's going right today. "Physically I'm fine," I said, running my hand through my hair. The hand without the cat hair ring, of course. "But the doc says I've got amnesia, and it's pretty bad. Basically, I don't remember anything or anyone from before the accident."

At first, I had tried using a veil to make me look like, well, me. If only to avoid situations like this, where I had no idea who this guy was even though he seemed to know me. As he recognized me, I obviously didn't succeed – the veil was just too complicated for me to keep it together for long, or if I did more than just wander around.

He gasped. "Not even your best buddy Yasaka? We were gonna take the entrance exam together."

"Sorry, man," I said with a rueful smile. "Not a thing. The results should be coming out soon, right?"

"They came out today, actually," he said with a knowing grin. "And guess who got accepted?"

"The queen of Sheba?" I offered. Lash snorted.

He gave me a big grin, pointing at himself with his thumbs. "I made it in!"

"Congrats, I guess," I said. "I guess it doesn't really mean all that much to me, since, y'know, no memories."

He gave me a sheepish grin. "Well, if things come back to you and you make it in next year, I'll introduce you around." I could tell he was one of the nice guys, the guy that would be anyone's friend after a few conversations. Maybe a little bit obsessed with his looks, but then again 'hobo' used to be a step up for my appearance so I had no room to talk.

 _Now imagine my suffering,_ Lash sighed. _To be f_ _orced t_ _o put up with a host with no sense of grooming or personal style._

'Yuk it up, Lash,' I told her absently.

"Er, Dresden? Are you okay?" Yasaka asked cautiously.

I waved his concern away. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just dealing with some wizard stuff." He gave me a weird look, the kind of look someone gave a crazy person when they were trying to decide if they were out of grabbing distance if things went violent. "Speaking of..." I fished out another of my business cards and handed it to him.

He read it over a few times then looked up at me with confusion. "Private Investigator, Wizard? Are you... um..." he began dubiously.

"Seriously, I've got a detective license and everything," I told him. "If you need anything, give me a call. I don't do love potions or stuff like that, but you lost something and need me to find it? I'm your man."

He nodded and tucked the business card into the inner pocket of his jacket. "I'll keep it in mind," he said. "Actually, do you have any more? I can give them out to some of my customers."

I dug a few more cards out of my wallet, while asking him, "Customers? What customers?"

He grinned knowingly. "I work for a host club now," he said excitedly, waving a hand in the air. When I just stared at him, he blinked, nonplussed.

I get the feeling my non-reaction annoyed him a bit, but it wasn't my fault. I had exactly zero idea what kind of host club he was working for. The closest thing I could imagine was a blend between the club Zero and the... service Bianca offered before things happened, and I doubted they'd hire someone as young as Yasaka for that. "Good for you," I said finally. "Do you enjoy it?" My pendant wasn't reacting, so I might as well walk and talk for a bit.

"Yeah," he said, sounding both proud and embarrassed. Which... wasn't exactly filling me with confidence. "I've only been working there for a little bit, but there's this one guy that's amazing! He's so handsome and professional and amazing! At first I wasn't so sure, but then I got the chance to talk to him, and -"

I tuned out his words about his boyfriend as I focused on the pendant. Had it twitched? ...No, but it was leaning toward the right. I turned the corner. "Your boyfriend seems like a great guy."

"Eh? W-wait, he's not my boyfriend!" Yasaka said hurriedly.

"It's fine, really," I said. My attitude toward things like that was 'boink and let boink'. Whatever happened between two or more consenting adults was none of my business unless I was one of those consenting adults. "My half-brother is bisexual, and I've known a lot of other people that aren't straight." Most of them were homicidal White Court vampires, though, and they weren't picky about who they had sex with. The rest were the Winter Sidhe. Again, homicidal and probably insane.

I mean, only a nut would Vajazzle themselves to try to get a rise out of me. Fucking Maeve.

"It's not like that! I swear, I'm into girls!" Yasaka protested, his face red with embarrassment as he tried to convince me he wasn't attracted to the man.

 _He's telling the truth, Harry,_ Lash mentioned idly.

'Oh, I'm fully aware,' I grinned. 'But this is entertaining.' I'd been the butt of this particular joke before, and now that I was on the other end of it, I could see why Murph hadn't let it go for so long.

 _It is indeed. Carry on, then._

Hm. Strange. Her approval usually fills me with shame, but this time it was just a small tingling feeling.

"So what was his name, your boyfriend?" I asked, trying to hide my grin as I ignored his attempts to set his own head on fire.

"Ah! Kagari!" he shouted suddenly, and I winced.

"No need to shout," I muttered, wiggling a finger in my ear to see if I could get the ringing to die down. "I'm sure sooner or later he'll realize just how happy you can make him and the two of you will get your Hallmark moment."

Yasaka looked at me, his eyes wild. "He's not my boyfriend, and he's right here, so shut up!" he hissed.

"Yo," a man said, his voice smooth. I looked over to see a man standing there, dressed to the nines. He wore a dark jacket, open to reveal a white shirt with the top two buttons undone to his chest. His stylish silver hair and gentle eyes were just the first things I noticed, but on the second look I realized he really was ridiculously handsome. Not Thomas-level handsome, of course, but that would be all but impossible. He stood casually, one hand in his pocket and the other raised. His cheerful half-smile was all but designed to put people at ease. Basically, everything around him was charming, and I'm pretty sure I could understand exactly why he was so wildly successful at his job. "Yasaka, right?"

"K-Kagari!" Yasaka gasped, bowing deeply. "Hello, sir! How are you? Are you going to work?"

Kagari laughed weakly. "Please, don't do that. I'm not working today." He grinned. "I have some business today, so I took the day off. Who's your friend?" he asked, looking at me.

"Harry Dresden, private investigator and wizard," I said, sticking out my hand. Kagari blinked, a little surprised, and then took my hand to shake it.

I almost flinched away when an electric shock went through my body.

Most wizards kept on the down low. Not surprising, when you realized that a lot of countries still had witch hunts where they tried to burn us at the stake. Because of that, it helped out a lot that we had a method of identifying other practitioners. When we made skin-to-skin contact, we usually felt something akin to a static shock. Harmless and a little surprising mostly. I'd felt it when Justin came to pick me up, and when I'd met Elaine for the first time. Even when I'd shaken hands with Ebenezar McCoy after he saved my life. I'd felt a lot of those little static shocks over the years, and they didn't really bother me.

I'd never felt one this strong before. If those shocks were like touching some metal and getting a small shock, this one was like sticking a fork in an electrical socket.

"Grk!" I managed to say, flinching away. "Sorry about that." Then I stopped and looked at Kagari. "Hey, are you okay?"

He was staring at me, eyes wide. His cheeks were flushed and he'd all but frozen in place, panting slightly. What was more, his aura had flared and I was treated to the smell of fire and acrid smoke. "Urk," he declared, his previous composure gone. Then he doubled over as he started coughing, loud hacking coughs that racked his whole body. His slender shoulders shook as the coughs were ripped from his body.

"Seriously, you okay?" I asked, moving over to thump him on the back.

Just before I hit him on the back, his hand snapped up and knocked mine away. At the same time, his aura flared again. "Don't touch me!" he snapped.

 _My host!_

'I know!' I jumped back, countering his fire by reluctantly dipping a metaphorical toe in the power of Winter. It answered my call far more eagerly than I'd expected, flooding through my body and sharpening my senses. I regarded the two males in front of me. The man was... I narrowed my eyes. Every instinct was shrieking that Kagari was dangerous, but at the same time that he was both comrade and prey, a fellow hunter and the target of the hunt. The other boy, Yasaka, was competition. He sought the same prey and must be -

 _Harry! You're using too much!_ Lash hissed.

I gasped and concentrated. 'Unfreeze, damn you,' I declared, wrestling most of Winter back into its mental closet, leaving just enough to increase my physical abilities. 'Lash? What the hell was that?' While under the predatory influence of Winter, I had shifted to watch both Kagari and Yasaka. Kagari's aura had flared up but it seemed stable now; still, he had moved his other hand out, a little cupped. My eyes narrowed as I recognized the kind of stance I had whenever I was about to start flinging magic everywhere. Meanwhile, Yasaka was looking back and forth between us, clearly confused.

 _I'm not sure..._ she murmured.

"Um, what are you two doing?" Yasaka finally asked. "Is everything okay?"

Kagari blinked and straightened up, trying to regain his composure. "Ah... I don't seem to be feeling well," he admitted, his voice a little rough from all that coughing. "I should probably go to my appointment..."

"Oh, sorry," Yasaka blurted. "I didn't mean to keep you."

"It's no problem." Kagari walked past us, giving me a wide berth. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes, turning to watch him as he walked by. Suddenly, he stopped, and I tensed. Would he do something? "Your name is Harry Dresden, right?" he asked abruptly. I nodded, and his eyes narrowed. "I see," he said, and disappeared into the crowd.

I exhaled through my nose. 'We're going to have a talk later,' I told Lash.

She was silent for a second. _He wasn't human. His aura signature was very similar to that of Karasuba's, however._

'...I know. I could tell the second his aura flared.' I shook my head. 'What on Earth is going on in this city?' Then I coughed and looked at Yasaka. "Guess he was sick," I offered. "And he didn't want me to catch it."

Yasaka nodded. "Of course! Kagari is always so thoughtful, and -" And that set him off again. Seriously, he wasn't doing much to convince me he liked girls by gushing over Kagari every chance he got.

As Yasaka was regaling me with a story about how Kagari apparently wooed three women at once, my tracking pendant tugged abruptly, and I snapped my head to the side. Down an alley, I saw a dirty grey cat, licking itself. "Sorry, gotta go!" I shouted, already running towards the cat. Yasaka shouted something. "Wizard stuff!" I shouted back.

The cat whipped its head toward me and bolted. Oh, no you don't. You're coming with me so that I can get paid! I made chase, lowering my head and racing down the dirty alley. This is why I'd started running every morning. To catch a cat.

That stupid feline was faster than me, but I'd had practice chasing down things that didn't want to be caught by me. And a cat was no match for a rabbiting Red Court vampire. " _Ventas Servitas_!" I snapped, channeling my will. A warm swirl of wind passed by me, a hint of warmth in the chill air, and picked up the cat. It yowled in surprise, its tail bushing out, and scrabbled helplessly in the air. "Hah..." I grumbled. "Gotcha, kitty. You're coming with me." I scooped him into my arms, trying to ignore the offended yowls and desperate scratching. Man, I need to get a duster. This wouldn't be a problem if I had my duster.

Fortunately for my face, the cat turned its attention more towards my arm as I exited the alley, and the thick jacket was just a little bit too much for its claws to make it through. "You know," I told the cat, "you're a lot meaner than Mister was." An offended yowl answered me. "See, he was at least smart enough to come back when he went out."

Eventually, I made it back to the girl's apartment and knocked on the door. "Oh my!" the mother gasped when she saw me. I guess I made kind of a strange appearance; I was holding a cat in my arms that was sullenly staring out at the world, ears flat and claws sunk in my jacket. A few of the early scratches had caught my cheek, and I was smiling uneasily. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, ma'am," I said. "Your cat's fine too, if a little mad about being carried the whole way home."

The little girl ran up and took the cat from me. Immediately, the little ingrate started purring and rubbing against her chest. Stupid cat. "Mister Fluffy!" she exclaimed. "You scared me so, so much! Don't run away like that again!"

The mother paid me my fee and stopped me as I turned to leave. "Would you like to come in? I could treat those scratches. You don't want them to scar, do you?"

I laughed. "No, it's fine. I heal pretty fast."

Yet another perk of being a wizard. My body constantly healed to its peak condition. It took time, some wounds more than others, but my body would always heal from wounds. Even my hand had been healing, and it'd been turned into barbecue by a vampire. Given enough time and rehab, it would have been back to normal. I wasn't entirely sure if scars healed, since it had looked like a horror movie prop even after I had started getting motion back, but a small scratch like this wouldn't scar.

Then again, I probably didn't have to worry about a scarred hand healing now that I was in this body.

I reached up and lightly brushed my hand over where the scratches were. Sure enough, they'd already stopped stinging. "See?" I said. "It's nothing."

She made a few more cursory protests, which I politely declined. After getting my payment from her, I made my farewells and went home. Getting around Shin Tokyo was actually pretty easy - a lot easier than getting around Chicago, that's for sure. Most places I needed to go to were in walking distance of my apartment, and if I needed to get somewhere further away I could take the trains. It looks like most of the infrastructure was built by MBI, so whatever weird technological wizardry they'd used to make the electronics work near me was part of their transit system too.

In other words, I could ride the train.

It was a novel experience every time.

But I didn't need to ride the train. My apartment was within walking distance from the client's house, so I could just walk down the streets of the city and enjoy the day. On the way, I conferred with Lash. 'So... That Kagari is another of... whatever Karasuba is.'

 _It seems so, my host._ Lash had decided to walk next to me, her form lithe and dainty as always. Even though her lips were moving, I heard her voice inside my head. _What is strange is that we were unable to sense his aura until you came in physical contact with him._

'I guess Karasuba was just a special snowflake,' I shrugged. 'Or maybe she was just so soaked with blood I could smell it from that far away. Did you feel that shock when I touched him?'

 _I did indeed. It was rather... interesting._ She had a small half-smile that reminded me that she had been called 'Webweaver' back when she was known as Lasciel.

'What are you planning, Lash?' I sighed.

She just smiled knowingly. _Nothing yet, Harry. Nothing yet._

I frowned. 'Bad Lash, no scheming.' Then I sighed. There was absolutely nothing I could do that could stop her from scheming, and I knew it. Birds flew, fish swam, fallen angels schemed. It's what she did.

 _And wizards set buildings on fire,_ she taunted. _None of us can avoid doing what we do best._

'Hey now,' I complained, 'I haven't burned down a building for at least three weeks.' That was like, a new record and everything. She just laughed quietly and I grumbled under my breath. But I knew exactly what to do in a situation like this – change the subject. 'What do you think the shock was? Is he a practitioner like me?'

Lash frowned. _I don't believe so, Harry,_ she said. _Or if he is, he's an extremely weak one. You didn't sense him until you shook hands._

'No, that doesn't fit,' I said. 'The strength of that shock, he has to be on my level of power, if not more.' In terms of raw power, I was probably one of the most powerful wizards alive. The only thing keeping me at 'Point him at our enemies' instead of 'Shoot him with a sniper rifle from very far away' was my relative lack of control.

I was working on that. I'd needed to, if I wanted to stay alive.

 _I would suggest seeing if you react that way to others of Kagari's kind, but the only other we've encountered so far is Karasuba._

I shuddered. 'Yeah, not going anywhere near her even with a ten-foot pole. There's a certain level of crazy that I'm not willing to pass, and she's about ten miles past that line.' Was it bad that I even had a line like that? Or was it worse that most of the girls that had approached me in the past few years of my life had been past it? Either way, I wanted nothing to do with her.

Lash smiled. _I admit to being morbidly curious as to where I fall on that scale._

'Trust me, you don't want to know,' I told her. 'Anyway, what are we doing for dinner? I'm thinking -'

A loud explosion rang out, shaking the world around me. Instantly, Lash disappeared and I whipped around, searching for the source. _Above us!_ I looked up, gathering my will while cursing myself for letting my guard down. I didn't know any of the powers in this world, but some of them must have taken offense to my being here. I was without my staff, my duster, or my various other pieces of equipment, so I was gonna have to do this the quick and dirty way. Assess the situation, decide what was the best course of action, and then -

"Aaaaahh! Please get out of the waaaaaaay!"

...Was that a girl falling from the sky?

 _I believe it is._ Even Lash sounded a bit bemused.

I didn't have any chance to really figure out what was going on before my arms were moving. Screaming, the girl fell into my arms, slamming into my chest. I did my best to stay upright, but physics decided that it was going to fuck with me today and over I went. "Ow..." I groaned, my head spinning. "Can someone get the license plate of the truck that hit me..."

Then I realized that the truck was still lying on top of me. I also realized that I had wrapped my arms around the girl automatically, and that the truck was very soft with curves in all the right places. Her front was pressing against my chest in a way that made my body very enthusiastically encourage me to continue where this was headed. It didn't help that she was lying right on my lower body.

I decided to blame that train of thought on the wisps of Winter still in me.

"Owie..." she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head, still on my stomach. "Guess that building was too tall after all..." Then she looked down and gasped. I tried to ignore the way it did interesting things to her body. "Oh! Are you okay?"

I managed to grunt out something. She was still sitting on my chest, and my rib cage was currently registering its protests with my lungs. Which made it a little hard to breathe. "Get... off..." I managed to gasp finally.

"Oh!" she gasped again before hopping off, sitting on the ground in a kneeling position. "Sorry!"

I sat up, rubbing my chest. "It's fine," I said. "I'm tough. Are you okay?" Then I twitched slightly. Mainly because I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. 'Lash?'

 _It's a miko outfit, more commonly known as a shrine maiden's outfit, Harry,_ she said, sounding equal parts amused and curious. _Or, at least, loosely based on one._

The girl's outfit had long white sleeves, red string decorating the sleeves. A wide flowing pink sash was wrapped around her waist, ending in a bow on the back. Her boots were fairly normal, and the thigh-high white socks weren't anything special. But her skirt. Oh, God, her skirt. Maybe there was an explanation for why her red skirt was so short it was struggling to cover her panties - and losing that battle magnificently.

I highly doubted it, though.

The girl tilted her head and smiled. Her hair framed her pretty face except for one long strange strand that dangled off to the side. "I'm okay! You must have caught me." I was struck by how beautiful she was - exactly like Karasuba and, in a totally straight way, Kagari. I was starting to get the sneaking suspicion that she was one of them too.

Suddenly she whipped her head to the side. "Look out!" she yelped, moving to tackle me out of the way.

But I'd already stood up, gathering my will, so she ended up tackling my lower legs instead and bonking her head on my knees. As for why I stood up, it was experience talking. My hairs had started standing on end. I recognized the feeling, since it was the same feeling I got every time Elaine had been about to hit me with some lightning. " _Defendarius Fulmen_!" I snapped, raising my hand. A shimmering wall of force appeared in front of me, extending out to cover both me and the fetish shrine maiden.

And not a second too soon. With a crash, a bolt of lightning slammed into my hastily-thrown up shield and split in half, sliding around the two of us and slamming into the shop behind me before exploding. I winced inside but didn't have time to look. The dust from the damage was just that, dust - not smoke. I hadn't broken my record. " _Ventas_ ," I growled, and a gust of wind blew the dust away. I narrowed my eyes as I beheld the fighters trying to kill me.

...And then a second later they widened as my jaw dropped. There were two women standing on the top of the nearby tower, staring at me. "There's no use running! Now, come on and fight us!"

"What the hell?" I asked in disbelief. 'Lash, are you seeing this?'

 _I am, my host,_ she murmured. _Today has become decidedly strange._

'You said it.' Both girls were... They were...

Oh, screw it.

They were wearing stripper outfits. The one that had talked was wearing purple, and the one behind her was wearing pink. The outfits - matching, which was a little campy since they were twins - were just barely enough to keep them decent. Their breasts were covered, but that was more or less it; two straps crossed over their stomachs, and they wore long gloves and boots, but that was all. "Wow," I called. "Takes a lot of guts to go out in public looking like that. Who are you supposed to be? Bondage Babe and her sidekick Gimp Girl?" I'd been attacked by literal porn star sorceresses that wore more than that.

"Hey!" the purple one snapped. "It's not like we want to go out like this! Our Ashikabi is-"

The pink one hissed something at her. Whatever it was, Purple bristled but subsided, looking sullen.

I just rolled my eyes. "If you're here for me, hurry it up. I want to get dinner, and having the Stripper Sisters attack wasn't really on my docket." Remnants of Winter were surging through me, and I was pissed. These two had put innocents in danger.

"Stripper Si-" the purple one yelped before her sister reached out and rested her hand on her shoulder. "Ugh, fine." She was hot-headed. I could use that. "We're not here for you, idiot, we're here for Number 88."

What.

"No!" the shrine maiden shouted, standing defiantly with her arms spread out, as though she was protecting me. "I'm not going to fight yet!"

...What. "W-wait." I raised my hand, palm up. "You're here for... her. Not for me."

"Who even are you?" Purple asked me. "And anyway, how did you do that?"

"I'm a wizard."

The shrine maiden turned and stared at me, hands tucked under her chin. "Wow! That's amazing!" She looked like an eager puppy.

Purple laughed at me. "Pull the other one."

I shrugged. Far be it from me to ignore a straight line like that. "Okay. _Forzare_!" The tendril of force lashed out and wrapped around her ankle before tugging back. Purple yelped and flailed as she was pulled off of the water tower. Pink grabbed her arm to try to pull her up, which was probably a bad move on her part.

See, my magic is powered on emotion. The hotter I was running, the more juice I got to put into my spells. And right now, I was mad - these two had attacked someone in broad daylight, flinging around lightning bolts. There was another reason wizards tended to lay low: our magic was almost always destructive. Or, well, at least mine was. And it tended to create collateral damage, like walls and buildings and bystanders. The earlier lightning bolt had been powerful enough to pulverize part of the wall behind me. That was powerful enough to fry anyone it hit. Which would most likely be an innocent civilian.

In other words, I was _pissed_.

The force was powerful enough to yank both of them off of that water tower and down to the ground in front of me. At least the streets were empty - the civilians had scattered once people started flinging lightning around. After they sprawled on the ground, I glowered at them. I had a good glower. Being six foot helped. "Now, you two. What the HELL were you thinking? What made you think that attacking on a crowded street was a good idea? You could have hit someone. You could have _killed_ someone!"

"H-how'd you do that?" Pink stammered, staring at me.

"I told you, I'm a wizard."

She swallowed. "We were careful not to hit anyone," she said, and I could tell that even to her the excuse sounded weak.

I looked around. The street was empty. Every pedestrian had disappeared; I'd only been here for all of a month and I could tell that this was outside the norm. This time of day, the streets should be pretty crowded. I glanced back at the wall behind me and the shrine maiden, and took in the two small craters in the wall behind me. They were still smoking. I could deal with this harshly, the way the Wardens had dealt with Warlocks in the past. Even if I didn't use magic, I could probably kill them. There was enough rubble on the ground that I could smash their heads in. I wouldn't like it, but I'd been fighting a war - I'd done worse.

I closed my eyes and sighed. Damn it. When had I gotten so dark?

I glowered at the two for another second or three, then sighed. They hadn't hit anyone, and it really was just bad luck that I'd been in the line of fire. "Go home," I told them. "You won't get what you came for."

Purple snarled at me. "Dumbass. She's not your Sekirei, so what do you care?"

Sekirei. I didn't recognize the term. Still, I wasn't going to give them the girl. She was running away from them, and what Murph called my 'chauvinist pig' side was chomping at the bit to help her. "I told you." With a flicker of will, I summoned fire and held it in the palm of my hand. "Go home. Or I'll make you." It felt bad, intimidating the two girls like that, but... it was the best way to handle this.

Purple glared up at me, electricity crackling around her, and I stared back levelly. Pink reached over and tugged on Purple's arm. "Please, sister, let it go," she whispered. Pink must be the calmer twin to go with Purple's irascible nature. Siblings usually ended up like that. "If we don't hurry, _he'll_ show up."

"Tch. Like we haven't had enough problems." Purple gave me one last glare and then sighed. "Fine, fine, we're leaving." The two of them scrambled to their feet and, Purple still darting glances at me - or, more likely, at the girl still staring at me with shining eyes - jumped away. I watched with a quiet sigh as the two literally jumped from street level to a nearby building and then kept jumping away. Because of course these girls could do that.

Come to think of it, didn't the shrine maiden say something about jumping from the top of a building? Argh. If I tried something like that, I'd end up with broken kneecaps. So not fair.

At least they weren't teleporting.

Sighing, I dismissed my little ball of sunshine and shook my head, staring at the building. Honestly. Then I turned my attention to the girl in front of me. "So, um," I said awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

 _Smooth, my host._

'Shut it, Lash.'

She stared at me with those wide shining eyes, letting the silence stretch on for long enough that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Wow!" she gasped finally. "You're so cool! How'd you do that?"

"Magic," I told her, happy to be back on familiar ground. "So, who are you, exactly?"

She beamed at me. "I'm Musubi, number 88! I'm a fist-type!" I have no idea what any of that meant. "What number are you?"

"Harry Dresden, double-oh-seven," I replied immediately despite having no clue what she was talking about. What can I say? I love a straight line.

"Oh, you're a single digit? No wonder you're so strong! Good luck finding your Ashikabi!" Musubi smiled at me. "I hope you find someone that will be kind to you and love you!"

I just gaped at her. "Um..."

"Well, okay, bye!" With a cheery wave, she turned to walk away.

"Wait!" I lunged forward. I needed to ask her questions, like her what the hell a Sekirei was, what an Ashikabi was, why those girls were trying to kill her... My arm closed around her wrist and electricity arced through me. I gasped involuntarily as my spine convulsed, and Musubi let out an eep as my hand clenched on her wrist. As soon as I realized I was squeezing, I forced myself to let go. "Sorry, sorry…"

"Ouchies..." Musubi mumbled. "That felt like those twins... But why..." Her cheeks were red and she seemed like she was breathing heavily. To make things worse, her aura had flared, and I was getting a sense of massive animal strength, like a bear.

I sighed, feeling my heartbeat start slowing down back to only double its normal rate. "Yeah. This... That's only the second time that happened, and I'm still not used to it. I think it happens any time I touch one of your race skin-to-skin."

"Aren't you a Sekirei too?" she asked, staring at me unnervingly. It felt a little like the way Susan had stared at me, back when we'd... conceived Maggie. And wasn't that a pleasant thing to compare it to. Honestly, I kinda understand what Thomas means when he says he feels like a side of beef sometimes.

Her heavy panting didn't help matters.

"No, I'm human," I said. "And before you ask," I added when seeing her face scrunch up in confusion, "I'm a wizard, remember? That's how I was doing all that."

"Oh, okay..." she said, starting to draw closer to me. I automatically backed up – when Kagari had reacted like this, it'd been violent. "That was so amazing, the way you just beat them like they were nothing..."

I shrugged, taking another step back. "They, uh, weren't that bad." Okay, Harry, how are you getting out of this one? "Do you know why they were attacking you?" Yes, that's it. Distract her with questions. Don't look at her chest don't look at her chest don't look at her chest.

"I'm searching for my Ashikabi..." Musubi whispered, pressing her hand on her breast. My eyes tracked the motion before I flushed and forced myself to look up at her face. God damn it, that is not helping matters. "Why... My body... is getting hotter..." She pressed closer, reaching out and putting her hand on my chest. I tried to take another step back, but my back hit the wall and I gulped. My mouth was suddenly dry. "What should I do..."

"Hey, let's... let's not be hasty here..." This was bad. This was definitely a reaction to that electric shock, and it definitely meant nothing good. The only question was whether or not I'd be killed by her ripping my face off or her disemboweling me. That was usually what happened when a squishy human like me got this close to something that could jump buildings. "If you kill me..." I'd die, which would frankly suck, but I'd take her with me. Death Curses were potent things. My mother's had shattered the power of the White Court King in his prime, and her magic wasn't as explosive as mine.

Given the right target, I could probably easily blow a hole through a mountain with my Death Curse. Or maybe just get rid of the mountain entirely.

She kept pressing forward, and my balance finally gave out. With a sound of surprise - I will deny to my dying day that it was a squeak - I toppled backwards and Musubi followed. I tried to roll and separate the two of us while we fell, but my head hit the wall with a crack. I gasped and my world went white. It was just for an instant, but because of that I briefly lost my ability to fight Musubi off. As soon as I could I lifted my arms and tried to force Musubi off of me.

This didn't work for two reasons. One, Musubi was a lot stronger than I was. Which wasn't really a surprise, come to think of it - she said she was a fist-type, and someone like that probably wasn't a pencil pusher. Her aura was all about strength too, so there was no way a baseline human could compare.

Two, my hands, um... I had...

There's no good way to say this.

When I was trying to push her off of me, I was treated to a first-hand observation of how soft her breasts were. Musubi gasped as I accidentally groped her, her face flushed. My cheeks were burning too and I squirmed, trying to get away from her. A lot of baddies tend to mix lust and hunger, and I wasn't sure I wanted to see which side she came down on. I doubt either one would end well for me.

"Ah..." she gasped, and the sound made my entire body shiver as my hormones went nuts. Bad Harry! Don't get distracted. She pressed herself against me and I felt my body start to react noticeably. C'mon, Dresden, where's that wizard's focus when you need it? Think about your... staff, yeah! Think about carving the staff - the long, hard, wooden staff that you channel your energy through and make the magic happen.

 _...My host, I don't think your attempt at meditation is working as well as you'd hoped._

'I know!'

Musubi was pressing close, her body burning hot. I struggled futilely, trying to get out, but she had climbed into my lap and there was nothing I could do. Well, nothing without resorting to magic, and some part of me was refusing to even gather my will, let alone blast her away from me. "I'm..." she breathed.

"You... really shouldn't..." I managed to get out. Her mouth was open, and I realized how soft and pink her lips looked.

The interesting things my mind will latch onto when I'm in imminent danger of getting my face bitten off.

"Musubi -!" My last yelp was cut off rather suddenly when her mouth descended.

Well.

This is different.

Rather than trying to bite me or eat me, she was kissing me, and it seemed like a completely normal kiss. No magic whammy or anything.

And yet somehow it was probably going to kill me anyway. But I couldn't feel her sipping at my life force, and her lips were _very_ soft against mine - none of the hallmarks of the White Court or the Red Court, she wasn't trying to eat my emotions or drink my blood somehow. And then, just because things weren't weird enough, Musubi broke the kiss with a gasp and arched her back. She wrapped her arms around herself and cried out wordlessly as a bright light started shining. To my surprise, ten wings of pure light erupted from her back. They stretched away from the nape of her neck, strands of something that was closer to a glow given form than anything solid. They spread out wider than my armspan and I couldn't help but watch in awe.

Slowly, the light faded away, and Lash coughed. _You're staring, Harry._

'Can you blame me? I just got kissed by Musubi and then she put on a one-woman light show. And unless I'm wrong, that whole panting thing before was... arousal.' I'm not really quite sure how to feel about that, even if a certain part was very enthusiastic about it. '...Wait, did she just -'

Musubi settled down. "I've found it..." she murmured, pressing a hand to where her heart was. "I've found it!" she exclaimed suddenly, throwing herself toward me. Automatically, I caught her, and she wrapped her arms around my neck, drawing herself close. Beaming widely, she nuzzled against my chest. "My Ashikabi!"

...What. 'Lash, do you know...'

 _The word doesn't seem to have a translation to English_ , she told me. _And before you ask, Sekirei is the word for wagtail, but as Musubi is very definitely not a bird, I haven't been translating it literally._

'Do you know what the whole... wings thing was?'

Lash merely laughed. _I do not. But I am looking forward to learning._

Hell's bells. What have I gotten myself into?

* * *

 **So, that happened. An unfortunately necessary station in canon, but an important one. Next chapter will have Harry dealing with the fallout of what just happened.**

 **Honestly, the struggle to keep the tone of the story consistent with a Dresden novel while at the same time having all the ridiculous fanservice (something Musubi is admittedly very good at) from Sekirei is rather difficult. Hopefully, I'm having it come across well. At the same time, I don't want to make it too fanservice-y when it won't serve the plot and/or be amusing – longtime readers know why, but for those that aren't aware, I'm asexual and mildly confused by anything more intimate than a tender hug. Which will make some future scenes a bit awkward…**

 **Lash and Harry is something I'm still struggling to nail down. On one hand, Lash is all but literally half a step away from omniscient, and since she has memories since the beginning of creation and has perfect recall she knows quite a lot about pretty much everything. On the other, having someone have all the answers is boring unless that's the point of the story (which this… isn't) and so Lash needs to be a little confused. It's a balancing act, and I'm still not entirely sure how it's working out. Thoughts?**

 **I'm pleased that so far this is having a pretty positive reception - I was worried about that for a while, and it took a while to get the courage to post this story in the first place.**

 **As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed, though I reserve the right to ignore them and do my own thing if I've already planned to cover the subject or decided against going that direction. Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.**

 ***SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT***

 **If you keep reading, you're acknowledging that you wish to be spoiled about plot points later in this story. You can turn back now and avoid spoilers - there's nothing else below this point.**

 **For those of you that read this next bit: be mindful of others, hm? If you have a direct point to make related to this stuff, just send me a PM and I'll try to get back to you.**

 ***SPOILER ALERT.***

 **...**

 **...**

* * *

 **Some other people have mentioned misgivings about Harry in Minato's body, but b** **ecause the Sekirei bond is through the genes, Harry as his own person wouldn't trigger any reaction from the Sekirei. I see it as they react because of the genes, and the degree/strength of the reaction is based on personal compatibility and the power of the Ashikabi. Either way, because Harry's already winged Musubi (and he's picking up the full set in time) that won't work. The only Sekirei he could conceivably have serving him would be Akitsu, and he still wouldn't be a real Ashikabi unless he managed to wing her somehow.**

 **While I can think of a few plot points, it would mean Harry would have a lot less agency. It would also be a larger stretch of the imagination to put him in close contact with the rest of the cast, since he has no real reason to protect this city like he does Chicago. Since Miya only takes cash, it'd be hard to justify putting him in Izumo Inn, and he's likely to stay out of magical fights between Sekirei unless they all happen right next to him (since for all his faults, Minaka _is_ pretty good at keeping civilians out of harm's way).**

 **I could have just handwaved it, saying that Harry's genes got messed up in the transfer and he managed to attract a Sekirei or two, but... first off, it'd be entirely original Sekirei (or two or three, since harems for Harry :3) and people come to read fanfic to see their favorite characters. I could probably make the case for Karasuba, but... eh...? I mean, I like her, but it'd be a stretch, and as a second argument I can't really see Harry not burning her to a crisp almost immediately after he finds out what she does and, more importantly, that she enjoys killing people. Second off, I've already handwaved a lot of things - Harry survived shredding his soul, MBI tech is anti-techbane, so on and so forth... I don't want to just say 'This is how it is, deal with it, yo.'**


	3. Third Spell

**The Third Spell**

* * *

There are certain situations that pretty much every man hopes and dreams he'll find himself in one day. Winning the lottery, finding your dream job, watching a movie in a movie theater without magic playing havoc with the projector, though maybe that last one's just me. But for one part of our lives in particular, the situations vary from person to person. Some guys want to find themselves marrying the girl of their dreams, others want to be sharing a romantic moonlit dinner with a pretty brunette, and some just want to go home and, well, do the horizontal tango. The main thing is, guys dream about a pretty girl all the time. Let's see...

Pretty girl, check. A searing kiss, check. She's apparently super happy to see me, check. She was hugging me, check. She was sitting on my lap in an awkward position that was starting to make my legs go numb, in the middle of the street, immediately after we'd been attacked by two inhuman strippers with powers for no reason other than she's inhuman too?

...Definitely not check.

"Um, Musubi," I said after a few more seconds passed and she seemed content to just snuggle next to me until the heat death of the universe. "Do you think you could, uh, move? My legs are starting to fall asleep."

"Okay!" she chirped, and immediately hopped off my lap. She kneeled next to me, upright and alert.

I groaned and moved into a sitting position, absently rubbing at my head where I'd bumped it. "Ow..." I muttered. Let's see, where should I start... Oh yeah. "Musubi?"

"Yes?"

"What the hell was that?!" I tried to keep the surprised yelp out of my voice. I mostly succeeded.

Musubi's smile changed into a soft grin as she closed her eyes. "I, Musubi, number eighty-eight, am your Sekirei, my Ashikabi," she said. A small shiver went down my spine; it felt almost ritualistic. "Forever and ever." Her eyes opened slowly, and I looked away quickly. I wasn't sure what would have been scarier: meeting her eyes and triggering a Soulgaze with her, or doing the same and not triggering one.

"Uh huh, okay, that explains like nothing," I muttered. "Alright then." My legs felt like they were back to normal, and I hoisted myself to my feet. "I'm just gonna go, then. Are you gonna be okay if those two come back?"

"Uh-huh!" Musubi chirped, clenching her fists. "I promise I'm going to be the strongest Sekirei!" A strange look passed over her face. "Um, Harry?"

I let out a small breath. "Yeah?"

"I can't move." Slowly, she toppled over to the side, still kneeling. It looked very strange. A loud rumbling noise broke the silence of the street, and I stared at her in surprise. She blushed, looking down at her stomach. "Can... can we get something to eat?"

I just sighed. Inhuman or not, who could say no to that face? Besides, she didn't _seem_ like she was going to attack me...

About thirty minutes later, I sighed again. 'Lash?' I asked plaintively. 'What am I doing?'

Lash hummed thoughtfully. _Well, at the moment you seem to be whining quite a bit_ , she said helpfully.

I snorted under my breath. 'Not what I was talking about and you know it,' I grumbled. 'I was talking about... that.'

The 'that' happened to be Musubi; the shrine maiden was sitting in my apartment, happily gobbling down burger after burger. We'd swung by the local knock-off of Burger King - Musubi still couldn't move, so I had to carry her, which earned us quite a few weird looks - and despite being clearly second-best, their burgers were relatively good and probably the best I was going to get without going to my holy lands. I'd had them a few times. Anyway, I'd picked up a bunch of burgers - I was starting to get hungry myself, and that way I didn't have to go out later. Or try cooking. I'd expected ten burgers to be more than enough.

Musubi had already gone through seven of them and didn't have any signs of slowing down in the near future. "You truly are amazing, Harry!" she said through her latest mouthful of burger. "You saved me, and now you buy me dinner! I'm so lucky to have you for my Ashikabi!"

There was that word again. "Musubi, what exactly is an Ashi-" My question was cut off by a sudden blaring coming from somewhere in the apartment. "Stars and stones, what now?" I recognized the ringtone of my phone, and I hoisted myself off of the floor to start searching for it. Damn thing always just disappeared the second I took my eyes off of it. Maybe if I was used to having one on me, but no. I prowled around the small apartment, trying to locate it from the ringtone alone; something that became a lot harder when the caller hung up. I sighed and shook my head, turning to go back to the table and maybe rescue one of the poor burgers when the phone went off again. Ugh, if I'd known the damn thing was going to be so irritating...

I finally found it, lying off to the side against the wall where I'd tossed it earlier. I picked up the blaring phone and cautiously opened it up. "Hello?" If it was Takami, I'd be in _so_ much trouble for not -

"Ugh, finally! I've called you like twenty times, you know that?" That... that was definitely not Takami. If it wasn't Takami, then hopefully it was a client. "Anyway... DUN DUDU DAAAAAA!" I winced and moved the phone away from my ear. Ow. Rude. "Congratulations!"

When I took a closer look at my phone, I realized something – namely that my phone could, apparently, do video calls. I didn't know it could do that. 'Lash, did you know it could do that?' Lash didn't bother answering, which I took to mean that she didn't know either and she just didn't want to admit it. "Um, what?"

"You were magnificently chosen to be partners to a Sekirei!" the bombastic man announced, grinning widely at me. The guy who'd called me was definitely a fan of white - his suit, the coat over it, and his hair were the same color. His coat had an absolutely massive collar, and I snorted. Some people just can't pull off coats. The man was resting casually in a chair, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Ah!" Musubi exclaimed, leaning over my shoulder. "Professor! Hello!"

"Number eighty-eight, Musubi!" the strange guy said. I guess I can buy him being a professor, what with the glasses and everything. "Are you doing well?"

"Yes! My Ashikabi is very wonderful!" she cheered, throwing her arms around me in a surprise hug.

I blinked bemusedly and raised a hand. "Okay, can we just back this conversation up a few steps? How 'bout we start off with who you are?"

"You don't recognize me?" The guy seemed almost insulted. "You should read the newspaper more, Harry Dresden!"

I frowned at the way he casually dropped my name. "What can I say, I'm ill-informed," I said just as casually. "I take it you're not calling because you want me to find something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," he assured me. "I'm calling to tell you something amazing!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Like what? Burger King's opening up a new chain here?"

"Sekirei Plan." I could hear the capital letters. "That's the name of the game you are participating in." He leaned back in his chair. "The rules are simple. There are one hundred and eight free Sekirei wandering around in this city right now. These Sekirei fight, and fight, and fight, and fight! And the Ashikabi of the last Sekirei standing is given permission to ascend."

I frowned. "Fight? You're hosting a battle royale in this city." I was mildly proud of myself that my breath hadn't started fogging up yet, but Winter was responding to my call, no doubt about it.

A war. A war was being held in this city, between these supernatural Sekirei. And I knew what that would mean - civilians would be caught in the middle. Like last time there'd been a war in my city.

At least this time it wasn't my fault, even if I was apparently being dragged into it.

"Another war..." I murmured. "You're making them fight and kill each other. For what?"

"Killing each other? No! No killing!" The man sounded almost offended. I let out a quiet breath. That was one thing out of the way. "But I can't say any more than that. After all, it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the Ashikabi if I didn't tell them, right? If you still want to know, ask your lovely Sekirei," he leered.

I scowled. "Who are you?"

"You really don't know who I am?" He seemed disappointed. "Really? Hang on a second..." His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, he straightened up and turned his face to the side.

Instantly, I pointed at him. I've seen that pose before, posted pretty much everywhere. "You're that bigshot CEO of MBI, right? Minaka... something or other."

"Hiroto Minaka," he said with pride. "Well, it took you long enough! Oh, and by the way," he added, suddenly serious, "this is just a project. So you have to keep it a secret. If you don't, MBI will retaliate with all our force and ability." Urk. I could read between the lines pretty well - it was basically what the White Court threatened. Tell anyone this is going on and we end you and probably your little dog too.

I understood the threat loud and clear, but at the same time I felt a little relieved. "So, all the innocents aren't gonna be a part of this? They're being kept safe?" As safe as possible with these Sekirei being able to throw lightning around, at any rate. At least I finally had an answer for what Musubi and Kagari were, though knowing they were Sekirei wouldn't help much until I could figure out what a Sekirei was.

"Of course," Minaka crowed. "I'm glad to see someone with a head on their shoulders joining the Plan," he laughed. "If you continue acting like this, maybe you'll be the one to ascend and welcome in the new Age of Gods!"

"Maybe. Maybe not." I've met a few gods. None of them were all that sympathetic to humanity. I don't think so, Minaka. "Well, if that's everything, I think I'd like to start talking to Musubi about what to expect in this... Plan of yours." It was tough, but I think I managed to get the capital letter right.

"Bye bye Professor!" Musubi waved happily over my shoulder at Minaka as I started closing the phone.

"Hey, wait! At least let me-" Minaka whined before being cut off with a click.

For a minute I stared at the phone, my thoughts racing at a mile a minute. The Sekirei Plan. Sekirei. Ashikabi, whatever they were - and I was one of them, now. 'Lash, do you have any idea what we're going to do?'

 _I have faith in you, Harry,_ she said, oddly somber. _I know you will do what is right_.

'And what if the right thing to do is to fight?' I asked wearily. 'What then?'

I heard her soft laugh. _Well, Harry_ , she said, _you'll do what you always do. Go in and upset the entire plan, somehow saving the day at the end. Most likely from something far larger than we thought originally. And perhaps set a building on fire as we go._

I sighed. 'That does happen a lot, doesn't it?'

"Harry," Musubi said suddenly, and I looked over at her. She was kneeling at my side, fists clenched as she beamed at me. "I promise I'll fight really hard, and win a lot! I'll make it to the end and be the last Sekirei standing so we can ascend together."

I gave her a long look, wondering if she knew what she was saying. The way her eyes were shining, she was determined to make good on that promise of hers. Was this really something I had to involve myself in? From what Minaka told me, this was a battle between Sekirei and Sekirei alone. And, the rules were set up so that innocents are supposed to be out of harm's way as much as possible. I wasn't gonna be paid for being part of this secret war, and putting my life on the line for nothing wasn't part of my job description.

...I really am a sucker for helping out a pretty woman.

"Okay, Musubi," I said, leaning forward, "why don't you tell me everything you know about the Sekirei Plan?"

As it turned out? She didn't know much.

Sure, she knew the basics of the plan, but only the very basics. All she'd focused on was the fighting aspect of the Plan, so she didn't know anything about what ascending was, or why she was fighting, or anything like that. As she told me over and over again, though, she was going to be the strongest Sekirei and win all her fights. The only thing she was concerned about was finding other Sekirei to fight now that she had found her Ashikabi. I still didn't know what an Ashikabi was, why she needed one, or why Musubi had to stay with me, but she was very emphatic on that point - Sekirei should only fight each other once they'd found their Ashikabi.

Somehow, knowing that this cheerful and friendly Sekirei dressed like a fetish shrine maiden was also super into fighting... Yeah, it was a little unnerving, but I was used to that sense of weirdness. After watching Karin flip a vampire twice her size and probably four times her weight, I'd started getting used to it. I think it stopped surprising me when it turned out one of the deadliest assassins of the Summer Court was five foot even.

Really, though, Musubi didn't really know what I wanted to know, and eventually I shook my head. "Alright, that's good enough," I told the bubbly brunette in the middle of one of her tangents about punching. "It's getting late, so we should probably get to bed. You can..." I trailed off as I looked around the apartment. Hm. This is a problem. I only had the one bed, but I wasn't going to make Musubi sleep on the floor... "You can have the futon," I told her. "I'll sleep on the couch." If I expected the Laws of Hospitality to protect me in _my_ sleep, I had to be a good host, which meant giving her the bedroll.

"I can't do that," Musubi protested. "I can't make my Ashikabi sleep on the couch! You should sleep on the futon with me!"

I gaped at her, and she just smiled back obliviously. "...I'll see if I have a second futon," I said, dragging my palm down my face. "Why don't you get changed for bed? You can borrow one of the shirts in the closet."

"Okay," she chirped.

While she rummaged around in my closet, I knelt down by the drawers where I'd found the bedding the first time. I still wish Minato had owned a Western style bed - my back was starting to hurt a little bit, even if the futon was strangely comfortable. Fortunately, that second futon was still there, and I pulled it out with the extra pillow. "Hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor, Musubi," I said without looking up. "It's not great, but it's all I've got."

"I don't mind," she said. "But your shirt, it's... a little tight." Her voice sounded a bit strained, and despite my better judgment I turned around to look. Immediately, I whirled back around, my face burning. Still, it wasn't hard to picture Musubi in my mind; that brief second burned it into my memory forever, even without my Wizard Sight. She'd somehow managed to fit herself into one of my button-down shirts, but just barely - it was fighting desperately to stay buttoned and keep her modesty intact. Since I was six foot, it covered pretty much everything important, but her breasts were doing their best to pop a button or five.

Lash laughed as I tried and failed to control my blush. _Harry Dresden, fifty-odd years and yet you still blush like a schoolboy when you see a pretty girl._ I didn't dignify that with a response.

"Let's..." I swallowed and tried to not let my voice show how much Winter was still running through me. "Let's go to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay," Musubi said. "Good night, Harry!"

I am playing with fire and trying desperately not to get burned. "Good night, Musubi."

* * *

The city was on fire, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't my fault.

I was standing on the roof of a building, looking over the burning city. The flames were hot, ranging from the massive gouts of blue and orange fire burning through the streets to the tiny embers flickering on the wind. I looked once and the city was Shin Tokyo; I looked again, and it was Chicago burning without burning. And despite it all, I was calm.

Knowing that I'm dreaming does that.

I looked down and nodded: I was wearing my duster and holding my staff loosely, and I knew without looking that I was wearing my real face. Definitely dreaming. This wasn't the first time I'd had dreams like this, though the fire was new. In these sorts of dreams, I usually ended up speaking with my subconscious - a real handsome bastard, that one - but this time, things were pretty different. "Usually a little more... less-on-fire-ish," I murmured.

The first hint I had that I wasn't alone was when flames roared up and then died back down; when the curtain of flame stopped blocking my sight, someone else was standing on the rooftop in front of me. He was wearing a long black coat really close to my duster, and I nodded slowly at the show of good fashion sense. He covered his face up to his nose with a mask, but his light grey hair was left free to get shifted by the heat of the flames below. "Why?" he asked me, his mouth moving under the mask. "Why you?" He sounded almost desperately angry.

Well, I knew I wasn't a prize, but jeez. Give a guy some credit, won't you?

"My host." Suddenly, Lash was at my side, the flames not touching her. "It is time for you to wake up." She leaned over and pressed a light kiss against my cheek before wrapping her arms around me.

My eyes snapped open and I spent a few seconds on high alert, ready to start throwing magic if anything attacked. When nothing lunged at me, I relaxed. 'Lash?' I asked, not bothering to get out of bed. I was warm. 'Please tell me that was just a dream.'

 _It wasn't a dream, Harry_ , she said. _It was some form of communication. I will admit it caught me off guard at first, as I hadn't expected anyone in this plane to be capable of such a feat, but it did not seem to be antagonistic in nature._

I frowned. 'Yeah, that's what I was afraid of,' I sighed. 'Hell's bells, I hate it when I get weird prophetic messages. They never end well.' Last one I got... Well, I try not to think about that case. It still gives me headaches. 'I feel like I should recognize the guy, though. That hair is familiar.' That mask kept throwing me, though, and I'm not sure why.

C'mon, Harry, think. Dreams like the one I just had always had some sort of sign about them. Which, in this case, is probably the fire. Y'know, since everything was on fire. And that man, the one that talked to me in the dream... He was familiar. Like I'd met him before.

I'm a detective by trade, and damned if it isn't nice when the clues line themselves up like this. 'Lash? We need to have a long chat with Kagari today.'

 _Agreed, my host._ She seemed distracted for some reason.

I let out a long sigh and rubbed at my eyes blearily. Ugh. I just wanted to figure out what was going on so that I could figure out what I wanted to do about all of this. I didn't want to get up, but it was time to go out and run; my stomach and back were strangely warm, but I had to get up and go out and face the cold brisk morning air. Sighing, I tried to push myself up and roll out of bed, but the warmth around my stomach tightened as I started to move. A sleepy murmur of complaint came from behind me, and I frowned.

It'd been a long time since I'd slept next to anyone - and Murph had never been clingy when she slept. So who... With a little bit of effort I rolled over and came face-to-er... I rolled over to see that at some point during the night, Musubi had shifted over to my bed and snuggled up next to me. The warmth around my stomach was her arm, and the warmth on my back - at some time during the night, the top button of my shirt had come undone. And the second, and the third, and the fourth... The shirt had been opened down to her navel and framed her cleavage _very_ nicely. I gulped and tried to pull away, putting to use every trick I'd picked up when Maggie slipped into my bed when she had nightmares; with a wriggle, twist, and another wriggle I managed to slip away from her grasp. Musubi clutched at the bed, mumbling quietly, and with a surge of brilliance I moved my pillow under her arm.

She sighed and settled down, gripping the pillow tightly, and I winced. Poor pillow. Poor me, if she did that while I was sleeping.

Shaking my head, I got dressed and slipped out, making sure to stay quiet. I didn't want to wake her up - Musubi seemed like she was sleeping soundly. No need for my own morning routine to bother her. So long as she didn't try to leave the house, we won't have a problem. I wrote a note and taped it to the door before slipping outside and heading down the stairs.

'So, Lash,' I asked, jogging down the street, 'what am I going to say to Kagari? For that matter, how am I going to _find_ Kagari?'

 _You could ask Yasaka, I suppose,_ she mused.

I just shook my head and let my mind wander as I ran. What was that weird reaction between me and Kagari yesterday? And for that matter, why did it happen again with Musubi? When I touched them, I had that same electric reaction both times and their auras flared the same way. Kagari had a little more violent reaction than Musubi, and I guess I was grateful for that. No offense to the man, I'm sure his clients were very happy, but I preferred women. Could that have something to do with me being an Ashikabi of some sort, or that dream I had? It was the only link I could think of. I certainly haven't had any dreams about Karasuba - thank God - but I hadn't touched her and had that reaction. ...Which sounds worse than it should, now that I think about it. Er. Putting that aside, I couldn't particularly imagine any other action I had in common with both Kagari and Musubi. Now, granted, I hadn't had a prophetic dream about Musubi, but on the other hand she'd put on that lightshow yesterday. Maybe the dream was because of that?

Stars and stones. This was getting complicated.

I shook my head to clear it and looked around. When I'd set out this morning, I'd decided to take a different route to change things up a bit, and my lungs were starting to burn. Gotta start curving and making my way back home...

I had just started curving back when I felt a tugging on my wizard senses. It felt like a banked fire was slowly dying out... I'd felt it yesterday, only a lot hotter. It was Kagari's aura, and it was out of control and barely flickering - but still immensely powerful, despite that. It was directly in my path, and I hesitated, surprised that things were going so smoothly already. In my line of business, smooth usually meant trap; but in this case, I decided to keep going. The way his aura was flickering, he was on the edge of death, and if he died I wouldn't get my answers. More than that, though, if I could help I wanted to try - prove that I was still a good person, on the inside.

The aura led me down the street and into a dark and dirty alleyway; it was barely out of my way, which was lucky. About halfway down the alley, I saw a dark figure slumped against the wall. Swearing under my breath, I hurried over to the person and stopped a few feet away from him. Even standing that far away, I could feel the heat roiling off of Kagari - and it was Kagari, no doubt about that. He looked exactly like he did in that dream I had, only without that mask. Unfortunately for him, it looked like he brought the fires with him, because the heat coming from him was enough to make the air shimmer. I'd used fire for a long time, and this was bad. Really, really bad.

I gritted my teeth. Kagari was totally out of it, and I doubted he even knew I was here. All I had to do was turn around and walk away, and he'd probably burn up. That would be one less Sekirei in the city, trying to kill each other and putting civilians at risk. All I had to do to make the city a little bit safer was let this man die.

On the other hand, there was that dream, and he might be able to answer some questions. " _Infriga_!" With the snapped command and flicker of will, I ripped the extra heat from Kagari's body and gathered it in my hand. A thin crust of ice formed around his body and almost immediately melted, while the energy in my hand formed into a middling (for my scale) fireball. I glanced its way and let it disperse before turning my attention back to Kagari. He was panting and shivering at the same time, but his temperature was down and his aura had stopped fluctuating wildly. "Hey. You alright?"

Slowly, he lifted his head and stared at me. "You... You're... Dresden. Harry Dresden."

"That's me," I agreed.

"How did you..." Kagari shook his head. "No, I guess it doesn't matter now. Why did you save me?"

I shrugged. "You needed help, and I could help you." Not entirely sure why he wasn't being grateful, but he didn't really need to be. "Can you stand?"

Kagari glared at me, but his heart wasn't into it. "I can." Slowly, he pushed himself against the wall, using it to brace himself. Eventually, he took a hesitant step forward and stood without help; he wavered briefly and I reached out to help him stand, but backed off when he glared at me. "...Thank you," he said finally, a little bit grudgingly. "For saving me. But it wasn't really worth it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Mind being a little less cryptic?"

Kagari studied me. Finally, he shook his head. "I'd really rather not talk about it here," he said. "I know a place we can talk privately. Would you mind -"

"Sorry, I can't," I said immediately. "I've got another one of your friends sleeping in my apartment, and I'd like to be there when she wakes up." Mainly so she doesn't try to leave and then fry herself on my wards. I get the feeling that would be bad. "You have my number, right? Just give me a call about... noon-ish, and we'll talk."

"Yeah, that works, I guess." Kagari palmed his face and dragged his hand down. I get the feeling he's not used to letting people see him this disheveled. "Ugh... I feel like my head is going to explode... Sounds like a plan. I'm going to go sleep this off now..."

As he started to stagger away, I watched him go. "Hey." He stopped. "If you start overheating again, give me a call. I've got a bunch of questions, and seems to me you might have some of the answers. I'd rather you not melt down."

He glanced over his shoulder at me, and his grin was uncaring and a little wild. "Hah. This body is useless. I'll burn up before too long." With a small wave he walked away. I just raised an eyebrow and shook my head. Time to go home.

My jog took me on a roundabout path back to my home, and I bent over to catch my breath as I approached the apartment. Ugh, I can't wait until my body gets back in shape. 'Lash, do you think he'll make it until noon?'

 _He should,_ she answered. _When we approached him, his aura was flaring out of control. After you cooled him off, however, it stabilized again._

'Yeah, I noticed that,' I said. 'Something to do with him being a Sekirei? Or maybe he just cooled down a bit.' Heh. Lash just let out a sigh of disgust at the pun. 'The apartment is still here, so I'm assuming Musubi hasn't left the house. Let's get inside and figure out what we're going to do.'

When I got to my door I reached out with a flicker of will and disarmed the wards. After that I opened the door and slipped inside. The lights were still off and Musubi was still asleep on the futon, and I let out a sigh of relief. "Munya..." Musubi murmured, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Oh, good morning, Harry. Did you sleep well?" She still hadn't re-buttoned my top, and so I was greeted to a front row seat to how the motion affected her body.

"Slept fine, thanks. And you?" I looked away to give her some privacy.

I heard her stretch and moan a little bit. I tried super hard not to imagine what it caused. "I slept great."

I nodded and moved over to the small kitchenette. "You want anything for breakfast? I have... cereal. And Poptarts." I might need to go shopping soon.

"Whatever you want is fine, Harry," Musubi chirped from back by the bed. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure she wasn't just saying that, and then choked on the air.

"Musubi!" I yelped, my voice strangled. "What on Earth are you doing?!" It's too early for this.

"Getting changed. Oh, thank you for the pajamas," she continued from where she was taking the shirt off, still bubbly and oblivious to any embarrassment for stripping down in front of me. "You even gave me my own blanket!" Without giving it another thought she took off everything except her underwear, folding it neatly before straightening up the blanket on the second futon. That done, she started looking around the apartment, probably for wherever she'd put that outfit of hers last night.

"That's... yes, of course that's what you're doing," I murmured. "I wonder how I didn't think of that." I swear I can hear Lash giggling madly in the background. Like a fly buzzing in my ear. " _Why_ are you getting changed in front of me?"

"To give you back the shirt you loaned me," she said without another thought to her modesty.

I winced at her cheerful voice. "That's great... Um, Musubi?"

"Yes?"

I pointed at my bathroom. "Could you get changed in the bathroom, please?"

I risked another glance at Musubi, using my hand to block pretty much everything below the neck. "Why?" she asked curiously, tilting her head.

I sighed. "It's a modesty thing."

"What's modesty?" she asked, her voice dead serious. Immediately after she asked the question, her stomach let out a huge growl, like an animal in the wild searching for food. "...And can you eat it?" she asked, giving me the puppy-dog eyes.

I sighed. "Go ahead and get dressed and we'll go get something to eat." From the sound of her stomach, Poptarts and cereal just wasn't going to cut it. Musubi smiled and nodded before rising to her feet, skirt and robe in her hands, and I strangled a surprised yelp before turning away, my cheeks burning. "In the bathroom please!"

I had to explain what modesty was to that girl before she gave me a heart attack. I've cheated death twice; I'd rather not risk it a third time.

* * *

"So, modesty is not letting people see me naked?" Musubi asked as she shoveled food into her mouth. More burgers, but at least this time I'd thought to get twice as many as last time.

"Among other things, yes," I sighed, rubbing at my forehead. It'd taken the entire walk to explain the beginnings of the concept to her, and Lash's constant giggling wasn't helping things. She seemed to find this situation hilarious. Good for her, I guess, even if I was a little irked her sense of humor didn't extend to my jokes. "But it's more than just -" My phone chose that moment to start ringing, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't have to keep talking about this, thankfully. "Sorry, I have to take this."

Musubi had already turned her attention back to the burgers, and I let out a sigh.

"Hello?" I said when I answered the phone.

"Harry Dresden?" It was Kagari's voice. He still sounded a bit hoarse. "This is Kagari."

I smiled. "Kagari, good to hear from you. Feeling better?"

"I am. Do you think we could meet soon?" He sighed. "I know it's not noon, but I have some errands to run and..."

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "Sure. I was just getting some breakfast, but I can grab it to go. Do you have some place in mind?" He rattled off a street location. I have absolutely no idea where that is, but I'll find it eventually. "Okay, I'll get there soon enough."

"And come alone, if you can," he sighed. "This is going to be a... somewhat sensitive discussion, so..."

"Sure, sure," I told him. "See you then." I flipped the phone closed and let out a sigh of relief. That was one weight off my chest. Hopefully, Kagari could answer the questions I still had about this Sekirei Plan. Musubi was a sweet girl, but she had a one track mind. The kind of information I needed, she couldn't exactly provide. Things like the nature of an Ashikabi and a Sekirei, and hopefully what that electric shock meant, and why Kagari was burning up from the inside out. Y'know, small things like that.

 _Are you sure this is wise, my host?_ Lash asked, suddenly appearing in the booth beside Musubi. _We have no idea if Kagari is hostile in any way. Going alone..._

'I know it's stupid,' I rolled my eyes as I grabbed one of the burgers. 'But it's the best choice we have. Besides, I'm a big boy.' I opened up the burger and took a bite. Not as good as the King, but tolerable. 'I can handle myself if things get violent.'

She sighed melodramatically, pressing a slender hand to her cheek. _That's what I'm worried about, Harry. Your definition of 'handling' tends to run towards the destructive._

'I'm not _that_ bad,' I sighed. Lash just smiled and disappeared, slowly fading away until the only thing left was her gleaming smile, until that too disappeared. Damn Cheshire Cat giving her ideas. Last time I read Carroll. 'I'm not!'

 _Of course you're not._ It was like the mental equivalent of getting patted on the head as she gave me a patronizing smile. Ugh. But I couldn't get too mad, because I knew she only did it as a joke.

I shook my head fondly and stood up. On the other side of the table, Musubi - still with her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk - looked up at me curiously. "'ere a' 'e goi-h, 'arry?" she asked. It took me a few seconds to translate Mouthful of Food, but Maggie did the same thing from time to time, so I got the general gist of her question.

" _I'm_ going to go meet with someone," I told her, stressing the pronoun. "He wants to meet alone."

Musubi swallowed her mouthful. "So what do you want me to do?"

I just blinked. "Uh, whatever you want, I guess." I don't know why she's asking me. It's not like I'm her owner or anything.

"I can't do that!" Okay, that's a surprise. So far, Musubi's been easy-going, but now she's standing up, hands clenched in front of her and eyes shining with determination. "You're my Ashikabi, and what would happen if a Sekirei attacked and I wasn't there to protect you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I can take care of myself just fine," I told her, pride stung. "I've been handling things pretty well so far, right?" Musubi looked mutinous for a second, and I sighed. "Musubi, please. I promised him I would come alone, and I can't lie." Literally, I can't. Well, _technically_ I can, it's just a really bad idea since it negates the power of the Winter Mantle. It's not as bad now, since losing the Mantle would only bring me back down to baseline human instead of turning me back into a paraplegic, but I still didn't want to lose any of my tenuous power. If Kagari's aura was any indication of his power, I was going to be punching pretty high above my weight class. Just like old times… "Just find something else to do while I'm talking to him, okay?"

Musubi still looked upset, but her expression soon brightened. "I'll make dinner!" she said happily. "I can go shopping and get anything I need."

"Sounds like a plan," I said absently, just glad she'd given up on the idea of accompanying me. "Remember, don't enter the apartment without me." I still hadn't keyed her to the wards. I wasn't sure if I should.

"I won't," she chirped.

After we left the fast food joint, Musubi went left while I went right. She waved cheerfully, and I gave her a little wave in return. It was enough, and she turned around and walked down the street towards the nearest marketplace, or wherever people got fresh groceries. As for me, I turned and headed deeper into town.

Eventually, I looked up at the building Kagari's address had led me to. 'Hm. Over-under of this being a trap?' I asked Lash, staring at the karaoke store. I guess it made sense to meet here; I was pretty sure these rooms were soundproof, even if I'd never been in one before. If we wanted to have a conversation where it was all but certain we wouldn't be overheard, this was the next best thing to finding an abandoned warehouse. At the same time, meeting in a public place like this was a good way of saying that we weren't going to fight.

 _It depends, I suppose. You did save his life this morning,_ Lash mused. _By all rights he should refrain from trying to kill you until after your conversation._

'Because villains are _so_ considerate like that,' I snorted. 'Let's just get this over with.'

I pushed open the door and stepped inside, passing through the thin threshold. Immediately, Kagari's aura made itself known to me - warm and weak, like a fire crackling in a far-off fireplace. "Welcome," the receptionist said, smiling brightly at me. "Just looking for a room?"

"I'm meeting someone, actually," I said. "Um... Kagari?"

Her smile got a little stiffer. "Oh! You're meeting with… Kagari," she said. "He's in the back on the right. Have a good time," she added as I walked past her.

That was strange. What was she... Wait. Wasn't Kagari a host?

...Seriously? Again? Ugh. This had better be worth it.

"I think the receptionist thinks I'm gay," I said as I slipped inside the soundproof room. Kagari choked on the glass of water he was drinking, and the karaoke machine started skipping on the song it was playing. "The sad thing is, this isn't the first time it's happened." This was karma for messing with Yasaka, I just know it is.

"What..." I could see the exact moment Kagari decided he didn't actually want to know the answer to the question he had started to ask. "No, never mind."

I slid into the seat across from him. "You look a little better than this morning, but should you really be out?"

"I probably shouldn't be," he admitted. "But I don't have a choice. I went to see a friend for help, but this is... temporary. We need to talk about this."

"I guess we do," I agreed. The table in the center had some drinks in it, and after looking to see if they had some Coke – they didn't, they only had Pepsi – I grabbed a bottle of water. The room was a little warm for my tastes - not uncomfortably so, but a little over where I liked it to be. I took a sip and looked at Kagari; he looked like death warmed over. His skin was still pale and his face was flushed, and as he reached out to take a bottle of water of his own his hand was shaking. But I thought his color looked a little bit better than this morning in the alley, and a quick check with Lash confirmed it. "So, is this the part where you reveal you were a villain all along and try to kill me after a monologue?" I was pretty sure it wasn't, but I had to check.

Kagari gave me a confused look before gulping down half of the bottle of water. "This guy?" I heard him mutter under his breath. "Really?" He shook his head. "So, I guess we should get down to business. I know you have some questions for me, but I'd prefer to get what I have to say out of the way first."

There was a brief pause in the conversation, and I shifted awkwardly. I'm never sure who's supposed to start talking first in situations like this. "Well, I'm the one who called you, so I'll begin," Kagari said. "Have you had any… extremely vivid dreams recently? Last night in particular?"

I frowned. Lash and I had already decided the dream was some sort of psychic message, and if the way he was asking was any indication, Kagari was the one sending it out. "I might have," I said slowly, "but I've been having weird dreams a lot this past month. There was this one where I was running through a forest, looking for someone, only I got lost and…"

 _Focus, my host._

Kagari shook his head. "This dream would have involved fire."

I nodded. "I had a dream like that this morning. The city was on fire, and I was standing on the rooftops…"

I trailed off because I'd noticed the way Kagari had gone even paler at the confirmation that I'd shared the psychic dream. "So, it is him…" he murmured softly, frowning and scratching at his chest absently. "I was hoping I was wrong…"

He shook his head and took another drink of water. "It's possible," he told me, "that you might have noticed something strange going on in this city for the past few months. After what happened this morning, I have a feeling you probably know what I'm talking about."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. "You're talking about the Sekirei Plan, aren't you." He nodded silently. Given what I'd already figured out, there was really only one way to put together the pieces in front of me. "And you're telling me all this because you're a Sekirei, aren't you." I was pretty sure I was right, but I wanted to hear him confirm it.

Kagari grimaced but nodded. "How long have you known?"

"About the Sekirei Plan, Sekirei in general, or you in particular?"

He waved absently. "Any. All of them, I think."

Let's start at the bottom and work my way up, then. "Well, as for you, I knew you were a Sekirei pretty much from the beginning," I told him. "I just didn't say anything."

I was going to say more, but Kagari had been taking another drink of water and suddenly choked, coughing violently. Alarmed, I started to get up to thump him on the back when I remembered how he'd reacted to me yesterday and this morning, and I sat back down. After a few seconds of listening to the glitching electronics in the room, he managed to clear his throat and wipe at his mouth, eyes watering. "Wh-what?"

"I've known since I first met you," I told him. "I don't know all the particulars, but something to do with fire, what with your aura and the whole 'nearly burning alive' thing this morning." Kagari was staring at me, eyes wide. "What? Is it something I said?"

"N-no," he said slowly, "I just didn't expect… that. I'm not really sure _what_ I expected, to be honest. At least this makes things easier… If I can ask, how did you know? I've been out in the city for some time, now, and nobody else has suspected a thing."

"Your aura," I told him. "It's subtle, but I can tell you aren't human. There are other signs too, small things here and there if you know what to look for."

It was small things that made humans different from, well, non-humans. Try as hard as they might, a fae will never quite be human; they'll always be just a little bit too perfect. Humanity is made up of its imperfections, and they're what help us learn and grow. And probably get us killed, too, but that's besides the point. The fae were creatures immersed in magic, and that showed in their appearance: flawless and beautiful and just a little bit too much of both.

Kagari was like that - just a little bit too much. It wasn't as noticeable as the fae, but he was still just a hair beyond the human norm.

But it was more than just physical appearance. There were signs in the aura of a human, signs that didn't appear in the aura of a non-human. Little fluctuations here and there, a faint sense of similarity with the person reading the aura. Every time I sensed Kagari's aura, not only was there no similarity but there weren't any of the little signs I'd come to associate with other humans. Whatever a Sekirei was, it wasn't human. Close, but not quite.

Kagari studied me closely, eyes stormy. "Signs? What kind of signs?" he snapped finally, reaching up to itch at his chest. "What exactly do you know about me?"

"Like I said, you're a fire user," I told him. "Pretty powerful one, too." He sat back down, but his eyes were tight and the temperature of the room was starting to rise. "If we're talking about how I figured that out, well, the fire thing was pretty obvious given the whole burning up from the inside out thing this morning," I repeated, "but as for how I know you're powerful? Your aura is... well, it's on par with some of the more powerful people I know."

"Like who?" he challenged. "And if you knew, why didn't you say anything before?"

"Wizards," I told him. "Of which I am one. I gave you my card," I reminded him. Kagari snorted, but didn't say anything. "As for why I didn't say anything, before yesterday I'd only ever met one other Sekirei, and she wasn't exactly a sterling example of friendliness."

"Who was it?" he asked absently, his eyes narrowed as he studied me. "The Sekirei you met." His skepticism was understandable. It was something I was more than familiar with, back in Chicago, and so it bothered me less than it usually did. I mean, I'd literally ripped the heat from his body this morning, how much did it take to convince him?

"It was a woman with silver-ish hair, wearing black and a grey overcoat. Oh, and her sword, that was pretty noticeable too. Her name was Karasuba." I frowned. Karasuba was a Sekirei, which meant she was connected to MBI. And Takami apparently worked with Karasuba… I might have to have a chat with Takami later and try to figure out exactly how much of this mess she was involved with.

He winced. "You met Karasuba?" he said, spitting the word like he'd tasted something foul. "If she was the first Sekirei you met, then no wonder you didn't say anything." He leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "So, you can sense Sekirei?"

"Only if I'm close to them," I told him. "I didn't know Musubi or those lightning twins were nearby until Musubi fell on me and the Stripper Sisters took a potshot at us."

He blinked. "That's right, you winged Musubi yesterday, didn't you? I suppose that explains it..." he murmured, half to himself. Grimacing and rubbing at his chest again, he tilted his water bottle back only to realize it was empty. Blinking owlishly at it, he discarded it and grabbed another one, chugging half of it before breaking for breath.

"Speaking of yesterday," I said, "that's when I learned about Sekirei and the Sekirei Plan. It's also when Musubi literally fell out of the sky and landed on me. Coincidences, huh?" I leaned forward. "And now that I've answered your questions, would you mind answering a few of mine?"

Kagari studied me for a second, then nodded. "If I can, I will," he promised.

"Oh, good." I let out a huge sigh. "What's, uh, what exactly is a Sekirei? And an Ashikabi? What's winging?"

He gaped at me. "You... what?"

I spread my arms out in the universal 'I got nothing' gesture. "All I know right now is that I'm apparently an Ashikabi, something something Sekirei Plan, and... yeah. That's pretty much it. The phone call earlier wasn't very detailed."

"Oh." He looked a little sheepish. "Sorry… I just assumed you knew what was going on, since you knew so much about me."

I just shrugged. "I'm a wizard, not a miracle worker. So, on the topic of answers… What exactly is a Sekirei?" When I'd taken Musubi to my apartment the night before, I'd been careful not to actually invite her past the threshold; if she was a supernatural being, it would have made things a little safer for me. Now, granted, the apartment's threshold was paper-thin, but Musubi didn't even seem to notice as she passed through.

"Well, you know we aren't human," he began, looking a little awkward. "Truth be told, we're, um… we're…" He muttered the last part, but I managed to catch it.

I sat back in my seat. "I'm sorry, but it sounded like you just said that Sekirei are _aliens_." Kagari nodded. "Like, little green men, 'take me to your leader,' that kind of alien?"

Kagari sighed. "Yes. I can't tell you much more than that, honestly."

Well, I can say that this is definitely a new one. "Right… Putting that aside for now, what do you want with us humans? Hopefully not probing." There we go. That was nice and professional, without a hint of how excited I was on the inside.

 _What on Earth is so fascinating about aliens?_

'Aliens, Lash!' I told her. 'Haven't you ever seen Star Trek? Star Wars?' Oh man, if Sanya were here he'd flip.

 _You have the strangest obsessions…_

I'd tried angling for levity with my question to him, but Kagari shook his head seriously. "No, it's nothing like that," he said earnestly. "We have powers, yes, but we can't use them very effectively or to their full potential if we're by ourselves. Being winged by our Ashikabi fixes that."

He's this strong and it's not even his full potential? Yikes. "What's that all about? Why do you need an Ashikabi to use your powers?"

"We Sekirei are… Well, you could say we're incomplete without an Ashikabi," Kagari said. He grimaced again, but this time I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with pain. "Like I said, it's difficult to use our full abilities on our own. We need an Ashikabi to effectively use them. The thing is, though, it has to be a specific Ashikabi."

I nodded. "So you can't just go grab some random person off of the street, say, and have them be your Ashikabi?" Come to think of it, that's pretty much what happened yesterday, isn't it?

"No. Our Ashikabi has to be someone that we're genetically compatible with, usually a partner of the opposite gender," Kagari said. "That's why a lot of Sekirei have been searching for their Ashikabi for a while. When we _do_ find someone we're compatible with, we start reacting to that person, and that's how we know they can be our Ashikabi."

"Is that why you work at a host club? To find your Ashikabi?" I asked, leaning forward, and he nodded. That was pretty clever, actually. He got to meet a lot of women, and that increased his chances of finding the one he'd be compatible with. It sounds kinda like speed-dating for aliens. "Did you find her yet?"

For some strange reason, he grimaced and looked away. "I'm... not sure," he said finally.

I nodded and let it drop. I wasn't a stranger to touchy subjects, after all. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask - that electric shock thing when we touched. Is that normal?"

"No, I don't think so," he said, frowning and focusing on me again. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "Because I felt it when I touched Musubi. That was right before she started, um..."

"Reacting," he supplied.

"Yeah, that. Before she started reacting to me." I liked that word. It was a nice, safe word, much nicer than 'started acting like she wanted to jump my bones then and there'.

He shrugged. "It's possible, I guess. If you're a powerful Ashikabi, Sekirei might show signs of reacting to you differently than normal."

"Huh." I digested all of this new information that Kagari had just thrown at me, then raised a finger. "So, no probing?"

He sighed. "No probing."

"Gotcha." Satisfied, I reached out to get another bottle of water, only to realize that at some point during the conversation, Kagari'd managed to drink all of the water in the room. He paused midway through taking a gulp of water and gave me an apologetic smile. I just waved it off. "You keep mentioning winging a Sekirei, or getting winged. So how's that work, exactly?"

Kagari looked at me, then shook his head. "That's another of those things where I don't know the exact details."

"Anything you could tell me would be much appreciated," I assured him.

He sighed. "Fine, fine. Once we've started reacting to an Ashikabi, all we have to do is…" He blushed slightly. "We just have to… It's a kiss, okay? We kiss our Ashikabi, imprint on them, and then unlock our full powers."

I nodded. "Makes sense. When I kissed Musubi, that flare of light looked like wings. So that was winging?" Kagari nodded. "Huh. Interesting light show. Just to be sure, though, you're not absorbing your Ashikabi's life force or anything like that? Not going after blood, or trying to propagate? You're not feeding on humans?" I subtly gathered some of my power, on the chance that they _were_ trying to prey on humans and Kagari would turn violent at the question.

"N-no!" Kagari yelped. "It's… it's just a kiss! Why would you _ask_ that?"

I shrugged. "Better safe than sorry?" I offered. "In my line of work, I can't be too careful. You'd be surprised at some of the stuff that I've seen." As I relaxed my grip on my magic, the poor karaoke box finally gave up the ghost, letting out a small popping sound as it died. I could smell smoke.

It really _was_ a question I'd needed to ask. Back home, any number of things that went bump in the night would have been out for human blood. It could have been any number of reasons; it was a powerful source of energy, it held our life force, the crimson color looked fantastic beading on the icy floor of Arctis Tor...

Personally, my money was on 'it tastes good'.

But that was besides the point. The point being, of course, the Sekirei weren't actually out for blood, and I didn't have to worry about waking up one morning with Musubi sharpening a kitchen knife after marking out where my prime ribs were. Which, now that I think about it, could have been a very realistic possibility this morning.

I leaned back and thought. It was all very neat and believable, which is why I wasn't sold. In my experience, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was. I mean, some race of alien beauty models looking to kiss someone so that they could unlock their full potential? That was pretty much the plot of a bad porn movie. Come to think of it, that might have been the movie they were filming that one time. Who knows?

"So how about you?" I asked him, not-so-subtly trying to change the subject. "You looked like you were in a bad way this morning. I'm no expert on Sekirei, obviously, but I'm pretty sure whatever was happening wasn't supposed to happen."

Kagari suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I…" He sighed. "My body is… it's special. I know I said that the unwinged Sekirei don't have as much control over their power, but my power is under less control than that. It tends to… try to slip the leash every now and then."

I was going to call him on the dodge – I know exactly how volatile fire can be, after all, and what I'd seen this morning wasn't 'trying to slip the leash' – when Lash, who'd been strangely silent ever since Kagari mentioned reacting, started laughing uproariously. _Oh, my host, this is quite wonderful_ , she giggled once she'd calmed down enough to actually talk to me.

'Lash, what are you laughing about?' I asked her cautiously. Whenever she started laughing like that, it usually didn't mean good things for me.

 _Think about it, my host,_ she said. _Don't you find it interesting that you have had a similar experience with Kagari and Musubi, and only Musubi seemed to react immediately._

'You're talking about the electric shock thing, right?' A horrible suspicion struck me. 'You're thinking he's... reacting to me and hiding it somehow? I don't know...' I said dubiously. 'Musubi was pretty obvious about the whole reacting thing.'

 _I believe he is. See..._ She nudged my nerves and shifted my perceptions slightly, letting me focus on what she wanted me to see. _His cheeks are flushed, and while the room is admittedly warm it isn't hot enough for that particular shade of red. In addition, he's been sending subtle signals throughout the conversation. Subconsciously, I believe, but sending signals nonetheless._

I decided to take her word for it, since my track record with these sorts of things wasn't exactly stellar. 'Hell's bells,' I sighed. Out loud, I said, "So, Kagari, you said that most of the time the Ashikabi is the opposite gender?" He nodded. "Is it always the opposite gender?"

Kagari looked decidedly uncomfortable with this line of questioning, but shook his head. "No, not always. I know that a few Sekirei have been winged by an Ashikabi the same gender. I think Numbers 5 and 63."

"So, you could react to a man, hypothetically," I continued. Kagari grimaced but nodded. "…It's me, isn't it," I sighed. "You're reacting to me."

He grimaced, his hand coming up to his chest automatically. He didn't say anything right away, but the temperature of the room jumped up about two more notches. It was starting to get a little uncomfortable in here. "Yes, I am," he growled.

Crap and double crap. I had been hoping Lash was wrong for once, if only so that I didn't have to have this conversation. I mean, it was all but guaranteed to be awkward. "Then when you asked about the dream I had, you were checking to see if I was the one you were reacting to?"

He slumped in his seat and hid his face in his hands. "I really was hoping you said no when I asked about it," he sighed. "A shared dream like that is all but a guarantee that a Sekirei and Ashikabi are resonating with each other."

Really? I wonder what could cause it... 'You think it's some sort of link between us?' I asked Lash. 'Some way for the compatible pair to find each other?'

 _It's the best theory we have at the moment,_ she replied, _and it makes sense._

I sighed and sat back. "So, you've finally found someone you're reacting to, aaaaaaaand it's a guy. That sucks."

"Tell me about it," he snorted.

"And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you don't get, uh, 'winged', you're probably gonna be in danger?" The sight of him slumped over, an inner fire raging out of control, rose in my mind's eye. It wasn't even a Sight memory, but I could see every detail vividly. "You said your power isn't exactly under control, but there's more to the story. Your power is turning against you. Isn't it?" It was half a question, half a statement.

I'd seen it happen before, too many times – someone tries to call on power they can't handle, and sooner or later it turns on them. Fire in particular was a tricky customer, so I wouldn't be too surprised if Kagari confirmed my suspicions.

Kagari frowned. "...Yes," he said reluctantly. "If I don't get winged, sooner or later..." He spread his arms out. "Sooner or later I'll burn up." So _that's_ what he meant by his body being useless. "The only question is when it happens. And now that I've started _reacting_ ," he sighed, shoulders slumping, "it's getting worse. By all rights I should've had another few months before it got this bad, but I probably would have died this morning if you hadn't shown up." The temperature of the room was skyrocketing, and I frowned. If this kept up... "I'm in control for the time being, but if my power keeps acting like this..."

I closed my eyes. Better to just do this and get it over with, like ripping off a bandage. "Kagari. I need a favor."

"What?" he sighed.

"Don't move." I opened my eyes and stared at him. "I'm going to check something, and it'll be easier if you don't move around much."

He laughed weakly. "Another wizard thing? You're going to make another fireball?"

I shook my head. "No, this is something else entirely. I'm going to use my Sight." Kagari just gestured with his hand, as if to say 'get on with it', and I closed my eyes again. Then, prepared for just about anything, I opened them and looked with my Sight.

A wizard's Sight, the ability to pierce through the veil and perceive the world around him in a vast spectrum of forces interacting, was a dangerous thing. No matter what it was called, it lets you look and see things you'd never be able to interact with otherwise. It'll show the world as it truly is, the mundane all wrapped up and mixed with the world of the supernatural. It can show you things so beautiful that the White Court would be put to shame, and horrors so terrifying that it would scare off He Who Walks Behind.

And the danger of it all is that whatever you see, the good, the bad, the ugly, the maddening - no matter what it is, it sticks in your mind permanently. You can't forget what you see, and it'll never fade from your memory. It's yours. Forever.

I still had nightmares from the memory of seeing Shagnasty.

What I was about to do could be one of the worst mistakes of my life. Looking at Mab had nearly blinded me, and while I was certain Kagari wasn't on her level of power, I had no idea what else he was. If he was something like the fae or the vampires, hiding his true form beneath a glamour or something like that, I might finally be driven mad. On the other hand, looking at him with my Sight will let me see... well, everything. It was a risk I'd taken before and one that I was going to take now.

I Saw.

I winced and squinted because the room was suddenly ten times as bright as it had been. Once my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I focused on Kagari, and bit down a curse. Stars and stones, he looked bad. On random parts of his body, everywhere I could see, small cracks ran across his skin. Beneath the skin I could see red-hot flames pulsing to an erratic rhythm; sometimes flaring, sometimes lying dormant. He was powerful - there was no doubt about that - but he wasn't lying when he said he couldn't use his powers to the full potential. But that wasn't what caught my attention. No, that honor would go to the massive wings of flame sprouting from his back. Ten of them, as wide as the room, stretched out and illuminated the room with their blazing light.

He's flaming. I stifled a snicker, certain Kagari wouldn't find the humor in the situation.

Then I noticed something strange. A small translucent connection stretched between me and him - it was golden, but so pale that I'd missed it at first thanks to the light from his wings. That was probably the link between us, the one that had spawned the dream. I turned and saw another golden connection going from me through the wall to my right. That one was solid and strong, and I realized it was probably the one linking me and Musubi. The difference between a solid connection and a potential one, I guess. I looked back at Kagari, but didn't see anything else notable. Except the fact that his body was... a bit weird. I wasn't sure what was weird about it, just that it was weird.

I closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath, turning off my Sight. When I opened my eyes again, it was without the fire wings. "Well?" Kagari asked. "What... what did you do?"

"I used my Sight," I told him, and then when Kagari looked like he was going to ask about it, I added, "It's a wizard thing." Hey, gotta keep some secrets. It's a contractual obligation. "You're... you're in a bad way. Not gonna lie."

He sighed. "I know, I know. It's just… I've been searching for my Ashikabi for a while now, and to have it turn out to be a guy… It's really uncomfortable."

"Think about how I feel," I snorted. I've already been _pregnant_ once, but actually kissing another guy? No thanks. Despite what everyone and their mother seems to think, I don't swing that way. Was it something about me? Something that made the universe take a look and decide, 'yep, he's gayer than a rainbow-colored pride parade'?

Then I paused. 'Don't say anything, Lash.'

 _I wasn't going to say a word, my host._

'Liar,' I told her with amusement.

He studied me for a second and then relaxed. "I was going to ask if you were, ah… like Yasaka," he said awkwardly, "but I think I know what your answer would be."

"The way I see it," I told him bluntly, "we have three options right now. One, we go through with the whole winging thing and then never speak of this incident ever again." Kagari made a grimace of displeasure, and I wasn't too thrilled with it either. "Two, if you have some way of controlling your power, or restraining it in some way that doesn't involve me, you figure out how to do that. Three..." I leaned forward. "I've seen your strength. I know how powerful you are, and it's not hard to figure out how dangerous it will be if you lose control. If you don't want to be winged, I won't force you, but I refuse to let civilians be caught in this war." One of the most dangerous thing was a supernatural powerhouse without any control over their power. "If it comes to it, I can kill you. I can guarantee it'd be painless." I meant it, too. As much as I wouldn't like doing it, if killing Kagari would protect civilian lives, I'd do it without a shred of hesitation.

Kagari went very, very still, his suit starting to smolder, and I gathered my power, wrapping it around me. If he got violent, I needed to throw up a barrier and then try to contain the fighting to just here. Finally, he slumped in his seat and I relaxed a little bit. He probably wasn't going to do anything. "No... No, there's a way for me to force this body to last a little longer. For a while, at least. And there's something I want to do before I die." He had a hard look about him, and I recognized it for what it was. Someone had done him wrong in the past, and he wanted revenge.

I'd been down that path before. It ended up with me getting shot through the chest.

I got my revenge, though, so there was at least a silver lining.

"Moving on, what can you tell me about the Sekirei Plan?" I asked him. All this talk about winging was making me very uncomfortable.

Kagari frowned and shook his head. "I don't know much about it. I was released into the city early, and I've been busy searching for my Ashikabi and protecting the unwinged Sekirei." He spread his arms out. "All I know is that the Sekirei will be fighting each other until there's only one left."

Nothing new. Why wasn't I surprised? "Cool." I stood up, feeling a little drained by the conversation. And the heat of the room. "Are we done here, then?"

He nodded. "We are. Thank you for meeting with me, Dresden."

"Yeah, no problem." I stretched and cracked my neck. "It worked out alright, I guess. A little hot, maybe."

He flushed and concentrated. A few seconds later, the temperature died down to a reasonable level, and I raised an eyebrow. That control was impressive, especially with something as volatile as fire. "Sorry about that," he said, his voice thick with strain. "I didn't realize."

"It's fine. I know how iffy fire can be." I gave him a small wave. "Later, Kagari."

As I walked out, the receptionist gave me a look and stifled a giggle behind her hands. I just sighed and kept walking, trying to ignore her. One of these days, I'm going to figure out just what keeps making people make that mistake... 'So, Lash, you think he's genuine?'

Lash hummed in feigned thought for a second. _I believe so, my host. He had no reason to lie to us, after all, and your Sight proved the existence of the connection._

'That's what I'm worried about,' I sighed. 'I've never seen anything like this before.' Usually, the supernatural followed rules that were, if nothing else, consistent. The fae couldn't touch cold iron or tell a lie, for example, and certain species of werewolves could only be harmed by inherited silver. But these Sekirei? I'd only encountered a few Sekirei so far, but all five had vastly different power levels and abilities. The only thing that tied them together was the fact that they were all nominally the same species. And that wasn't even touching on that mess with the link between me and Kagari, and me and Musubi. Was it parasitic, leeching from my powers to fuel theirs? I couldn't believe that, because I hadn't _noticed_ anything off... Stupid Sekirei and not playing by any rules I could figure out.

Well. At least nothing else could - no. No, stop. Stop. I paused, waiting a second, but when nothing happened I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I managed to stop myself before it was too late.

A loud explosion echoed out from down in the city. The same direction that, when I focused briefly, the metaphysical link between me and Musubi was tugging.

You'd think by this point, I'd have learned not to tempt Murphy.

I swore under my breath and started running. If this was a Sekirei incident, like it was shaping up to be, Musubi was probably there if not already involved. Cute as she was, that girl was a battle maniac, through and through. There was a better chance of Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans coming to an agreement about which one was better than Musubi not showing up to be part of a Sekirei battle, especially now that she had found her Ashikabi. And if she needed me nearby to fully use her powers...

Another explosion echoed through the streets, this one closer, and a plume of smoke started rising. It wasn't the type of smoke from fire, this was closer to the type of smoke that came from a lot of brick and concrete being pulverized from a concussive force. My experience with explosions notwithstanding, the tugging from Musubi's link was getting stronger as I approached, and I stifled a sigh, just lowering my head and bulling forward through the fleeing crowds. Weren't they supposed to be subtle about things? This was anything but! And this is coming from me, of all people.

The plan had been to go talk to Kagari, get a little bit more information about the Sekirei Plan, and then go home and figure out what I was going to do from there. So far, I'm batting one for three.

Well, as the saying goes, plans never survive first contact with the enemy.

I burst onto the scene, will gathered. Then I stopped and sighed. "You two again? Really?"

The Wonder Twins turned around. This time, though, they were wearing matching maid outfits, the kind I'd seen some workers wearing around the street. "You!" the purple twin snapped, pointing at me. "That weird guy!" Pink was tugging on her arm, looking a little nervous. "We owe you from last time!"

"Oh!" Sure enough, Musubi was part of this, on the other side of the twins. Her miko outfit was a little ragged around the edges, the back of her top was ripped open, and there was a pretty wide scorch mark on her side, but I don't think she was hurt. "Hello, Harry! I found some Sekirei!"

I sighed and walked forward, already preparing to call a protective barrier to surround me. They probably weren't going to attack, but all the same I didn't want to be caught off guard. "I see that, Musubi."

"I was coming home from shopping and I ran into them. They attacked me, but I made sure the groceries were safe!" she cheered, holding up a plastic bag full of food.

Honestly, this girl needs some priorities. "That's... great." I guess I shouldn't yell at her for trying so hard. "So! What are you two doing here?" I loomed over them. I was good at looming.

Pink took a step back, but Purple glared up at me. "So you're her Ashikabi?" she sneered. "Now that the Sekirei mark is on her body, we don't have any interest in her. You got off lucky this time." Uh huh. Yeah. Sure. "But thinking of a worthless guy like you as an Ashikabi..." She reached up and grabbed my shirt. "It pisses me off." Her hand started crackling with lightning. "Maybe we should just kill you anyway, right sis?"

I opened my mouth to lash out with my magic, but Musubi beat me to the punch - literally. "Please let go of Harry!" she shouted, dashing toward the two of us faster than I'd expected. The purple one whirled, letting go of my shirt and raising her hand. With a crack of thunder, Musubi's fist slammed into her palm.

Lightning crackled around her palm, and Purple grinned nastily. "Not bad," she said after a second. "I was going easy on you until now." The lightning expanded suddenly, letting out a flash of bright light. I winced and shielded my eyes, waiting for the afterimages to fade away. "Because we're not supposed to fight with winged ones." I growled under my breath. Stupid alien strength... The twins had managed to jump up onto a nearby rooftop and were looking down at us. "Next time, we'll -"

" _Fuego_." With a flicker of will, I sent a lance of fire towards the twins. Purple yelped and ducked. "Seriously, why do people always stop to monologue?" I mean, I'm not complaining, mind, since the big bad will usually give away their plans if you let them talk long enough. It's a pretty good way to get information, actually. But these two didn't strike me as the masterminds.

Purple straightened up, looking decidedly disgruntled, before turning away. Pink waved. "Sorry we scared you. Do your best to ascend," she called out before jumping away, the twins easily clearing the buildings.

One of these days I'm gonna get their names.

I just stared at where they were before shaking my head. "I wish _I_ could jump across buildings like that." I could maybe do something like that with Winter's Mantle, but only if I wanted to break every bone in my legs.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Musubi asked, hurrying over to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, it'll take more than..." I trailed off and covered my eyes with one hand, trying to ignore both the heat in my cheeks and Lash's amused laughter. "Musubi?"

"Yes?"

"You remember that talk we had earlier, about modesty?"

"Uh-huh!" She was probably nodding. "I made sure to cover my breasts and everything!" Well, that _was_ true, I guess. For a certain definition of cover. The lightning twins' last attack had managed to shred her outfit, exposing a large portion of her midriff and would have bared her breasts to the world had she not been covering them with her arms. Part of me was glad she was listening to me earlier, but the larger part of me was irritated with myself that she'd been exposed to danger like that in the first place.

Instead of replying, I just awkwardly shrugged off my coat and handed it to her. "Here. Put this on and we'll go home." Musubi happily draped it around her shoulders and then went to go pick up the groceries she'd dropped when she attacked the lightning twins. I watched her for a few seconds before turning my attention to the ground. I let out a low whistle as I easily picked out a small area of cracked ground, where she'd managed to put so much pressure that she'd actually broken the concrete. And Purple had held her off with one hand.

What the hell are they?

When Musubi turned around, smiling beautifully, I realized I'd spoken out loud. As it turned out, her answer was only one word:

"Sekireis!"

* * *

 **Well, there we go. The worst of the expositing is out of the way, and I'm pretty sure there's only one more huge plotdump in the works. But, that's not for a while, so rest easy. I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that whenever Harry hears or sees _his_ name (unless it's Lash or he's thinking it), Lash is automatically translating it for him. The rest of the world sees 'Minato Sahashi'.**

 **Anyway, my muse fought me heavily on this one. A sentence here, a paragraph there... Ugh, it was a chore to push this one out. Normally it just flows, but not this time. Still, I think (hope?) it came out alright, and covered the material I needed to cover without losing too much in-character-ness. Harry is still Harry, Kagari is a bundle of awkwardness, and Musubi is obliviously cheerful. Yes, I know I'm sticking kinda close to the canon of Sekirei, but that's kinda unavoidable while we're in the first arc.**

 **And I'm gonna have to wonder out loud how many of my readers/reviewers have actually seen or read the original Sekirei, because people were calling me out for copying other fics when I was pulling from the canon manga. While I don't deny that I've read** _ **In Flight**_ **(it's what inspired me to actually sit down, finish up the outline, and write the first few chapters after I've had the rough outline on my hard drive for two years) and that I'm taking** _ **ideas**_ **from it (hence the meeting between Kagari and Harry, since it's a nice opportunity to mess with Harry) I will deny that I'm copying from it. Are the scenes similar? Possibly. That's how you grow as a writer – you read, see someone else do a scene well, and think 'Can I do something like that?' But, but but but, don't ding me for copying a story when I'm adapting canon. The scene someone mentioned in particular, where Harry meets Yasaka and Kagari? I was going straight from the manga. This chapter, with the meeting? It's been about a year since I've read** _ **In Flight**_ **and I don't remember how it goes in that story.**

 **Anyway rant over. Y'all know the drill by now. Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.**


	4. Fourth Spell

**The Fourth Spell**

* * *

"Sekireis!"

Yeah. That explains next to nothing. But Musubi was so happy, I couldn't find it in my heart to say anything. Instead, I just gestured toward the street. "Let's get going, Musubi. You said you were cooking dinner, right?"

"Right!" she chirped, hefting the bags easily. Part of me wondered how much she bought - they were bulging - before remembering that she was a Sekirei and as such not exactly bound by the same rules as us puny humans.

No, I wasn't jealous.

After an uneventful ten minutes riding the train home - although I'd had to scowl at a few guys who got a little too interested in what she was wearing underneath my jacket - Musubi got changed into another of my white shirts and then went right to work in the kitchen. I listened to her hum happily as she did the prep work for whatever she was making; the song reminded me of something, but I couldn't place what, exactly. Putting the matter aside, I sat down with my jacket and thread. I'd noticed it earlier, but one of the runes was starting to come undone. Better to fix it now rather than learn it failed when a vampire's fist was halfway through my ribs, after all.

I finally finished the restitching, biting off the thread and holding it up to the light. 'What do you think, Lash?' If the rune wasn't perfect, or if the thread was a little crooked, it wouldn't work.

 _Excellent work, Harry, as usual_ , she agreed, tracing the path of the stitching with her hand. She sat back on the couch and smiled. _But we both know you're using this as an excuse._

'What, me, try to avoid doing something I don't want to do?' I scoffed. 'No, never.' She just raised an eyebrow and I sighed. 'That didn't fool you for a second, did it?'

 _I live in your soul, Harry. I know what you're thinking. No, it didn't._ She paused for a second. _It might have been able to fool a seven-year-old, but I doubt it._

I rolled my eyes. 'Well, no need to be mean about it,' I grumbled. Lash just giggled and faded away.

Sighing, I stood up and crossed across to where I'd tossed my phone when we'd gotten home. Ugh. I really didn't want to do this, for more reasons than I should have. Really, it all came down to family.

It was something I'd seen when I first met the Carpenters; it was something that I'd experienced when I realized Thomas was my half-brother; and it was something I'd finally understood when Maggie fell asleep in my lap for the first time. Family was insane. They did things that didn't make sense, acted in ways that were frankly terrifying... Seriously, Charity on the Mama Bear warpath gave me shivers, and I probably featured prominently in the nightmares of things that went bump in the night. And that wasn't even bringing up what happened when the Red Court kidnapped Maggie to use her against me.

The point was, family was insane. In a good way, of course.

That being said, I'm also fairly certain my new sister was insane in a few other ways.

Regardless, she was my best option for asking for help right now. I still wasn't sure if I could trust Takami with this favor, and with my usual stunning lack of socializing, that left me with begging for Yukari's help. I didn't want to have to do this, but... needs must. Gritting my teeth, I dialed her number and then carefully held the phone away from my ear.

The phone rang once, twice, a third time, and I was starting to think she'd never answer the phone. That'd figure, right? Then the call connected and I held my breath, preemptively wincing. I knew what was coming, it was the same thing that always happened when Yukari and I talked on the phone.

"Big brooooootherrrrrr!" Even despite my precautions, Yukari's ecstatic voice was so loud I had to move the phone away even further. "You callllled!"

"Hello, Yukari," I said when I finally had my hearing back again. Quick, I needed to say something other than jump directly into asking a favor. Crap, I know Takami mentioned something yesterday, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was.

 _She's been accepted to a college in town and will be moving up shortly,_ Lash supplied.

'You're a lifesaver.'

"So, I hear you took your college exams recently," I said. "How'd they go?"

"Haha!" Yukari laughed triumphantly. "I made it in!"

I smiled, despite knowing she wouldn't see it. "Congratulations." I genuinely did mean it. I might not have been in the market for university, or a huge fan of the school system in general, but I knew how impressive the schools around here are. Shin Tokyo was on the forefront of a lot of things thanks to the influence of MBI - technology, medicine, and apparently alien warfare, to name a few - but their schools were top-notch. Even if all I remembered of my own school days was sneaking out so that I could practice magic, I could appreciate what Yukari managed to achieve.

"Ah!" Her little gasp of excitement was way too much for my admittedly stilted congratulations, and I felt a sudden sinking sensation in my stomach. It was, unfortunately, depressingly familiar. "Praise me more, Big Bro!"

See, Yukari had, by Takami's accounts, been a little mean to me growing up. Or, a lot mean, really. I had no idea why, of course, but for some reason Yukari was always picking on Minato back when they were kids. But after learning that he… I … he'd been in an accident and that I'd woken up with amnesia, she'd apparently decided that her attitude was going to change. Instead, she was going to use my amnesia to start over and be the best sister ever.

If there was one thing that I'd realized when it came to Yukari, it was that when she decided to do something, she went all out. Take right now, for instance – if I didn't head this off at the pass, Yukari would head off into her own little happy place from a few words of praise from me, and I wouldn't be able to ask her for the favor I'd called for in the first place.

"Yukari," I told her, "focus, please."

"Fine," Yukari sighed. "Oh, by the way," she said, suddenly perking up again, "since I made it in, I'm going to be moving to Shin Tokyo pretty soon!"

I suddenly felt my body go cold. She's coming here. To a city full of battle-hungry Sekirei, each one ready and willing to trash their surroundings to take out their competition. I was prepared to live in an environment like that. Hell's bells, that was ninety percent of my life back in Chicago. But I was used to this life. I had the ability to protect myself in this kind of life.

I was under no illusions that Yukari was the same. Now, I'd never met her in person - I was too busy with trying to make enough money to pay the next month's bills, and she was never in town - but I doubted she was a wizard in disguise. Letting her put herself in danger was making my insides twist.

What should I say? If I just told her she couldn't come she might start asking questions, and I couldn't tell her about the Sekirei Plan for obvious reasons. ...No, as much as I wanted to keep her out of this, I couldn't, not without making her curious. "That's cool," I said finally.

"Do you think we might be able to hang out sometime? Spend some time together?" She sucked in an excited breath. "Ooh! Can I tag along when you go do your wizard stuff?"

I chuckled. "Sure thing. If I have a case and you're free, I'll let you come along." Like Takami, she knew about my private investigation job, though unlike Takami she believed me when I said I was a wizard. As a plus, I could probably keep her safe if a Sekirei attacked. "Hey, um, Yukari? I have a... small problem that I could use your help with."

"Ah! My help?" Yukari yelped. "What do you need? Is it money? Do you miss me? I can come down to visit right away, I just need to pack a bag and I can be on the next train to-"

"Calm down, Yukari," I said with a sigh. That was another phrase I'd gotten used to saying to her. "Deep breaths."

I heard her pause, then inhale and exhale slowly. "Sorry, big brother," she said contritely.

"Anyway," I coughed, "see, the thing is... my friend needs some clothes. She might have had a major fight with her boyfriend, and had to leave in a hurry. So she didn't have any place else to go, and I figured she could stay in my apartment for a while, and she... kinda needs a change of clothes."

Yukari giggled. "Oh hoh! Is she _that_ kind of friend?"

I sighed. "No, Yukari, she isn't. Anyway, she had something but it got really ripped, and she doesn't have anything to sleep in. I lent her some of my shirts for now, but they don't... fit." I trailed off, not entirely sure how to tell her that they didn't fit because Musubi's breasts were too big. That's one of those conversations you never want to have with anyone. "So I was hoping you'd be able to send a box of some of your old clothes. It might not fit, though... Maybe some of Takami's stuff?"

She giggled. "You're no good at this, are you?"

"Well excuse me for not knowing what the two of you wear on a daily basis," I grumble, grinning despite myself. "Can you do it or not?"

"Sure thing, bro," she said easily. I could imagine her sitting on her bed, kicking her legs idly. "It's late, so they'll get there tomorrow hopefully. That soon enough for you?"

"Harry," Musubi called out from the kitchen. I glanced over to see her stirring a huge pot of something that smelled pretty good, wearing an apron that was far too small for her and didn't cover nearly enough. "Dinner's almost ready!"

"Thanks, Musubi." That box can't get here fast enough. "That's great, Yukari. Thank you again."

"Heheh!" Yukari laughed. "Thank me by taking me out to lunch when I get up here!"

"Sure thing. See you, Yukari."

"Bye, big brother! See you soon!" With a click, she hung up.

I let out an explosive breath. Well, that went better than expected. I only needed to tell her to calm down twice.

"Dinner's ready!" With a cheerful call, Musubi came out of the kitchen with two plates in hand. She sat them down on the table in front of me and I stared in amazement. She'd managed to throw together two heaping piles of curry and rice, and it looked and smelled fantastic. She even placed a small little flag with a heart on top of each plate. I have no idea where she even got those things, because they definitely weren't in my kitchen. Hell's bells, I didn't even think we had the ingredients for the _curry_. "Today is special curry!"

I smiled and dug in. It was nice, eating a home-cooked meal for the first time in a while. It'd been a while - the last time was back with the Carpenters, and it'd been far too long since that happened. I'd done a lot of things since then, and I'm not sure I deserve to be at their table anymore.

But this was different, much different. Musubi was a member of this war just the same as I was probably going to be, and that made all the difference. The Carpenters had been out of the way and protected from the worst of the war, barring the few times I needed Michael's help and brought the war to them without meaning to - but Musubi was a fighter in her own right. I'd seen that this afternoon, when she took on the purple twin. She was going to be part of the fight, whether I was here or not.

So instead of worrying about it, I just smiled and enjoyed the meal.

* * *

Musubi, I discovered, was a clingy sleeper.

I mean, I'd experienced it yesterday, but I'd figured it was a one-and-done sort of deal. But when I woke up this morning, Musubi was wrapped around me like some weird form of performance art. At least there wasn't another psychic dream from Kagari, which was a plus.

I did, however, wake up from another sort of dream in which Musubi featured prominently. That, I blame on Lash. I didn't say anything, if only to avoid her teasing if I was wrong.

Struggling a little bit, I managed to pull the switch again and replaced myself with my pillow. Shaking my head, I started to open the door to go outside and then paused. Should I key Musubi into the wards now? It would definitely lower the risk of leaving in the mornings to go do my morning run, and it would make things easier if she could come and go as she pleased without having to worry about me being with her. Plus, it would let me keep my running schedule consistent. I was already feeling the benefits - just a week ago, I was waking up a little sluggish, but this morning I already felt alert.

On the other hand, keying her to my wards meant I was going to let her stay here indefinitely. And that was something I wasn't too fond of, to be honest about it. Harboring Morgan while he was a fugitive was bad enough, but I knew he was all about doing the right thing when it came down to it. Musubi, on the other hand, I knew next to nothing about. I _could_ try to Soulgaze her, but... I wasn't sure if it would even work in the first place. And there was the possibility that Soulgazing her would drive her away entirely, thus defeating the entire point.

Man, this was hard. 'Lash? Your thoughts?' I asked her. She was technically a member of the household, even if she was piggybacking off of me, so she deserved the right to voice her opinion.

 _I'm uncertain, my host,_ she said. _The Sekirei girl would be an excellent ally if you were to involve yourself in the war. In addition, have you noticed that she doesn't seem to have anywhere else to go?_

'Yeah,' I sighed. 'I figured out that much, at least.' It wasn't hard, really. My apartment wasn't exactly the poster child for creature comforts, and it was a little small, even by my standards. If Musubi was sticking around for whatever reason, it was either because the link forced her to be near me, or because she didn't have any better lodgings. Either way, she needed to stick near me. 'If that's the case, though, I should start looking into getting a bigger apartment.' I wrinkled my nose and stepped outside. 'This thing is cramped as hell now that there's two people living here.'

Lash laughed demurely. _Why, Harry Dresden, are you going to ask her to move in with you already? You should at least take her out to dinner first._

'She's already living here, and...' I ran my hand through my hair and sighed before starting my morning jog. 'She might be a Sekirei, but I'm not going to kick her out to live on the streets.' I liked doing things for women, so sue me. Opening the car door for them, pulling their chair out so they could sit down... I called it gallantry. Murph called it chauvinism. Whatever it was, I wasn't going to kick Musubi out. 'You think we can get Takami to spring for the move, or are we gonna have to dig into the bank account?'

 _I will simply point out I'm not the one that has to explain why you're moving to a different apartment._

'Good point,' I said with a small shudder. It threw off my jogging rhythm. 'Personal accounts it is, then.' Between trying to figure out how to make ends meet with just my private investigation job and the money Takami was giving me for the small apartment's rent, and telling Takami I was moving because I'd gotten involved in the Sekirei Plan - something she _obviously_ would know nothing about, naturally - and was now living with Musubi, I'd choose the option that was less likely to end up with me getting yelled at for several hours straight. 'What's our budget looking like these days, anyway?'

Lash gave me the mental equivalent of a shrug. _Somewhere between anemic and skeletal._

'Just like old times, then.' I let out a small laugh. 'I miss having several million dollars in diamonds.'

My run was going perfectly fine until I noticed something strange off in the distance. "Huh," I muttered, so surprised I said it out loud. "That's new."

'That' being a massive forest that sprang up overnight, and the fleet of helicopters heading that way. At least, I was pretty sure it was overnight, because I didn't remember there being a huge patch of greenery off in the distance. I was going to ignore it until I noticed the large MBI on the side of the helicopters; curious what was going on, I changed up my route and swung by the source of the difference. It was pretty crowded and there were a bunch of news trucks around, so I was sure to stay a good distance from them, but from what I could gather it was a surprise to everyone else, too. According to one reporter I was able to eavesdrop on through creative application of wind magic, the strange growth at the Botanical Garden was currently under investigation by MBI.

I frowned. Those jokers again? If that was the case, then this was probably something to do with Sekirei. I shouldn't be surprised, really, since I've already met four Sekirei with wildly different abilities. And here was me thinking this war was supposed to be subtle. The war in Chicago involved a literal mob boss and yet it had still been kept secret better than this. What the heck was MBI doing? Amateurs.

Well, there was one good thing that came out of taking the detour, and that was that the extra distance gave me a chance to relax and finally soak in what I'd managed to get myself caught up in. Normally, once things have gotten bad enough that I was involved, I was moving from crisis to crisis without time to nap, let alone get a jog in, so this was a nice change.

Everything that Kagari had told me seems to make sense - assuming that he had no reason to lie to me, after all. The memory of what I'd seen using my Sight came back to me in bright vivid detail, and I studied it carefully. His body had been falling apart, bursting from the seams with his own power, and his wings were bright and beautiful, but this time I focused on his face. I was pretty good at spotting liars, if I do say so myself, and the Sight made it even easier than usual; Sight showed things as they were, so liars always had some mark of their lie on them.

But not Kagari. His face was pure. Everything he'd told me, he believed to be the truth.

And didn't _that_ have lovely implications. If he was to be believed, then the city was full of super-powered Sekirei that were running around, looking for partners in their war. I'd just had the bad luck - or, rather, Minato had the bad luck - to have genes that would let Musubi and Kagari unlock their powers. I wasn't sure how kissing someone would unlock powers, but it wasn't the weirdest thing I'd had to deal with before. If I could, I'd like to figure out how exactly the whole winging thing worked, but that would be next to impossible without a workshop set up.

Which, now that I knew I was going to be part of a war, was suddenly a fairly high priority, right after 'find a new place to live' and 'get Musubi new clothes'. Having a workshop would let me experiment and brew potions and do all sorts of wizardy things that would give me a better chance of surviving the upcoming battles. Only problem with that was that I had no real supplies to speak of; everything I'd owned back home I'd collected over a long and checkered career, and here I was starting from scratch. I didn't even have a staff, something I'd have to fix soon.

It made me feel manly.

One thing that did worry me was the link between me and Musubi, and the partial one between me and Kagari. Was it dangerous? I had no way of knowing, not without performing a lot of experiments. I'd been sure to ask Lash to keep an eye out and she assured me that there had been no detrimental effects so far, but that could change in the blink of the eye. Hell, Mab had been able to screw with my mind so well it'd taken Michael to break me out of it, and that was as subtle as they come. I was sure Lash wouldn't actually let me be corrupted by anything or anyone, but that might not stop something neither of us could see.

 _You are correct, Harry,_ Lash told me, appearing beside me in a stereotypical jogger's outfit - tight tank top, hair pulled up into a ponytail, and distressingly short shorts. _I will not let anything corrupt you. After all, if I could not do so, nothing else will have the pleasure._

I grinned. 'You say the nicest things, Lash. I knew you cared.'

She smiled. _I do my utmost to support you in... all of your endeavors and desires._

I glared half-heartedly. 'Wait... That _was_ you, this morning! Lash!' Then I felt a stirring of dread. 'You're going to keep doing that, aren't you?'

Lash laughed. _My utmost, Harry, in all of your desires,_ she repeated. The mischievous smile did nothing to make me feel at ease. _And I would be remiss in allowing stress or hormones to interfere with your mental state,_ she continued smoothly _._

'Ugh. And there's nothing I can do to make you stop, is there?' Her smile only grew wider.

The other half of that problem, and one I was trying to avoid thinking about, was whether or not my... situation would affect Musubi or Kagari. I was an Outsider, simple as that, and if the link relied on something metaphysical in addition to the genetics, that might put them at risk. From what Kagari told me it was just a simple unlocking of their full abilities, and I could see partnerships forming naturally from there as Sekirei and Ashikabi tag-teamed to fight the competition, but there was always that small chance that something might happen. And despite her battle-mania, Musubi was a sweet girl. I didn't want to hurt her by accident because my nature had an unseen side-effect.

As it stood, I was going to just take things as they came. That plan had served me well in the past, and while I'd started being more scheming lately, there really wasn't much I could do right now without more information. Just wait and see, making sure to protect myself and anyone else I was responsible for. It grated, not being able to really do anything about the threats, but I'd learned over the years that there were times I had to grit my teeth and bear it. Didn't make me _like_ it any more than I did, but at least the time has made it a little more tolerable.

As I turned to leave, an electric current ran down my spine and I stumbled. What? My first thought was that I'd somehow brushed against another Sekirei and that they were about to start reacting in the middle of a crowd - and what a pleasant thought that was - but as I looked around, there was nobody nearby I could have touched, let alone a Sekirei pulling a repeat of what Musubi did when she was reacting to me. Since that option was right out... I guess I just brushed against something metal and zapped myself. Shrugging to myself, I leaned forward and got back into my rhythm. Lash easily kept pace with me thanks to not actually having a corporeal body. Cheater.

By the time I got back to the apartment, I was sweaty and more than ready for a shower. I opened the door carefully in case Musubi was still asleep, but when I snuck in I could hear the shower running. Looks like she's up already - that's good. It was kind of a pain to keep stepping around her. "Oh, Harry, you're back!" she called out. "Good morning!"

"Morning, Musubi," I called back.

She was humming happily to herself in the shower, so I decided to do my damnedest to ignore the images the sounds brought up and poured myself a glass of water. I hadn't managed to find a place that sold good beer and I was pretty sure nobody would sell it to me anyway, which meant water was my go-to drink. Only filthy heathens drink warm Coke when they have something else. And don't even get me started on Coke Zero. At least the water in this place worked, even if it meant there wasn't any hot - "Harry!" Musubi called out. "We're out of shampoo!"

I turned around to tell her where to find more when the words got caught in my throat; Musubi had, instead of just calling through the door, actually come out, stark naked, to ask me. "Musubi," I sighed, turning back around and staring at the sink, "remember what we were talking about yesterday?"

"Um... In a case like this... kya?" The 'scream' wasn't anything of the sort, and I could hear the question in her voice. I just sighed. "Modesty is hard... But it's okay if it's Harry!"

No. No, it's not. Lash was going to have plenty of material for tonight, at least. "Shampoo is by the washing machine," I told her, still staring resolutely at the sink. "And Musubi, remember a towel next time, okay?"

"Okay," she chirped, and I heard her rummage around behind me before padding back into the bathroom. When the door closed behind her, I relaxed slightly and sighed, rubbing at my forehead. My blood pressure must be through the roof. That new apartment couldn't come soon enough.

After a cold shower - because the water heater was busted and Musubi used up the last of the hot water, go figure - and a simple breakfast, I was ready to go out and face the day. Of course, Musubi wanted to come along; while I didn't really have that big a problem with it, walking around with a Sekirei in broad daylight like this could more or less be a declaration of war, and I didn't want to get involved in something before I'd had time to get prepared. I knew my life - I'd get involved soon enough. But the longer I could push that off, the more time I'd have to remake my toys.

There was also the small factor that Musubi still didn't have any clothes that fit.

Eventually, we came to an agreement; Musubi would stay home and wait for the package while I went out and did my thing. She wasn't terribly happy about it, but she'd agreed after I told her I'd probably be out until late and just sitting around in the park and that I didn't want her to be bored. I told her she could try on the clothes that Yukari sent and see if she liked any of them, and that seemed to cheer her up a bit.

I stepped outside and very deliberately didn't reactivate any of the dangerous wards; Musubi would need to go in and out to get the package, so the only wards I left were the ones that would alert me to someone coming and going. It wasn't great, but I was pretty sure Musubi would be able to handle anything. My damage deposit, on the other hand, was in dire straits if we got attacked.

Oh well. Glass houses and stones, or whatever. Time to go see about getting that new apartment.

* * *

As it turns out? With no guarantor, a budget thinner than a shoestring, and no plans of going back to school if I could help it, there was pretty much no house we could rent.

I sighed. 'Well, it's not like we didn't see this coming,' I shrugged. 'It was a long shot to begin with.'

 _It would certainly be more feasible if the demands were less... stringent,_ Lash murmured.

'It's not my fault I need a place that's relatively isolated,' I told her. 'Unless you _want_ the neighbors to come over and asking what keeps exploding.' A lot of the spells I'd be working on were going to be largely theoretical, and theoretical spells tended to fail pretty spectacularly the first dozen or so times. Even with Lash's help that was still a concussion waiting to happen. 'Still, thirty places turning me down? That's a little depressing.'

 _There, there,_ Lash consoled me. _I'm certain Musubi will be willing to provide a shoulder for you to cry on._

I chuckled despite myself. 'She's something, alright. She seems so new to the world... Kagari mentioned being released into the city, right? Maybe all the Sekirei were kept somewhere they couldn't socialize before the whole Sekirei Plan thing.'

 _It's possible,_ Lash admitted.

Shrugging, I started wandering through town. It was a nice day out, and I wanted to enjoy it while I could; and besides, the box Yukari sent had probably arrived by now, and I didn't want to walk in while Musubi was trying on the clothes. Either way, it gave me an excuse to be out and moving. But as I wandered through Shin Tokyo, I started noticing something. I was pinging, for lack of a better word, off of auras from a bunch of Sekirei as I wandered through town; none of them were very powerful, or reacted like Kagari or Musubi, but the town was filled with them. It wasn't to the point where I was tripping on them, but I was definitely passing a few on the sidewalks. I wasn't sure what had changed, but it was probably just that I'd spent some time around Musubi and I knew what the Sekirei aura felt like - kinda like hearing a dripping tap in the middle of the night. Once you notice it, you'll never be able to ignore it again.

Eventually, I found myself in a large park, people drifting in and out as they went about their daily lives. Someone could probably sit in the park all day, and nobody would even notice or care.

In other words, perfect for what I needed to do.

Settling down on a nearby bench, I closed my eyes and prepared to do one of the most basic techniques, and one I'd mastered a long time ago: meditating. Being able to center oneself was a vital ability of being a wizard, and while I'd resented having to sit still back when I was still learning by this point I was an old pro at it.

Closing my eyes and slowing my breathing, I fell into a trance almost immediately. I hadn't needed to do so for a long time, but it was a lot like riding a bike - you never forgot. Once I'd gone deep enough into my trance that I wasn't going to be startled out of it easily, I focused and reached out with my senses, all of them. If I was going to be a part of this shadow war, I was going to do it right.

And that meant learning the lay of the land. Or, in this case, the _ley_.

Honestly, this probably wasn't the best way to map out the ley lines in Shin Tokyo. If I'd had the time to spare, I'd have loved to be able to spend a month or so just wandering the streets, getting a detailed map of the flow of power. But I didn't exactly have that much time on my hands, especially with the way Sekirei were apparently popping up out of the woodwork. So quick and dirty it was - by mapping out the rough concentrations of magical power, I'd be able to figure out the broad strokes of where the ley lines would fall. So I expanded my senses and got to work.

Ley lines were natural streams of magic running all over the world. Think of underground pipelines, only instead of water or oil flowing through them, they ran with magic. They tended to run between hot spots of supernatural energy - though the jury was still out on chicken or egg when it came to ley line congruence and areas of high magical activity.

It was one reason why Chicago tended to be a magnet for supernatural activity; Captain Luccio had shown me a map of the Great Lakes area, once, when we were searching for a group of Denarians that had dropped off the map. It was a nexus of energy, with a hell of a lot of ley lines nearby. Dozens of confluences were either smack-dab in the middle of my city, or had been nearby.

Demonreach had been right over one of the heavier ley lines running with dark energy, which is how we'd found it, actually. The Denarians would have needed a large source of stable energy nearby, and since they were literally powered by Hell they weren't getting that source from sunshine, rainbows, and happiness. The other options were either too far away or in the Museum where I'd found Sue.

I swear I was going to put her back. I was just unconscious at the time.

Either way, the ley lines could contain different types of magic. There was the aforementioned dark energy, defensive energy, restorative, disruptive... Sky was the limit. The first time I'd successfully pulled off a gravity spell, I was hopped up on raw earth magic from one of the strongest ley lines I'd ever tapped into. Despite earth magic not really being my forte, it was a doozy.

Ley lines weren't exactly great for faster or more furious fights – in other words, the type I usually find myself in - but they were fantastic for crushing armies.

Even the ones that weren't raw power were phenomenal resources, since it would give me access to a second power source that wasn't my own willpower. They'd let me cast bigger spells more often, even if they weren't as powerful as the ones I'd broken my teeth on.

In other words, it'd be another ace to hide up my sleeves.

Some time later, I blinked and came back to reality. Carefully stretching to loosen muscles stiffened by the meditation, I relaxed my grip on the two objects I'd been clutching in my hands. One was a pen, the other a map of the city I'd picked up while going house-shopping. I glanced down at it as I cracked my neck; lines were traced across the map seemingly haphazardly, crossing at a few points. I had no idea what type of ley lines were present, or how powerful they were, but it gave a rough idea of where to focus my attention. I wouldn't be able to whip up something like Little Chicago, and without Bob's help I wasn't even going to try, but knowing the battleground was just plain common sense. There was some weird stuff going on with the map, though - in each of the four cardinal directions, there was just this weird mess of scribbles. Don't know what's up with that, but when it comes to magic weird stuff usually means it's not good.

I stood up, joints popping, and turned to head home. Then I froze.

There was power nearby, and it was strong – strong enough that I'd picked up on it without even trying to.

I started gathering power slowly and carefully; I had no idea how sensitive whoever was nearby was to my brand of magic, and if they happened to be hostile I didn't want them to start flinging _their_ power around. Making it as standing and stretching, I expanded my Wizard Senses and searched for the source of the power nearby.

The power gave me a sense of brisk, peaceful cold; the kind of cold you'd find on the top of a mountain, or the kind those billboard ads claimed you'd experience chewing their wintermint gum. It brought to mind the crisp air I'd breathed while at Arctis Tor, albeit without the towers of black ice or incredibly sharp icicles. It was the kind of cold that heralded snow and frost.

I felt that cold every time I called on Winter, so I recognized it loud and clear.

My own Winter rose up inside me to answer the challenge, and I forced it down; this wasn't the place or time to advertise the Winter inside me. It was possible that the Winterfae actually did exist here in this world, and they might have noticed me when I called on Winter a few days ago. If that was the case, they probably wouldn't appreciate me stomping around on their turf without introducing myself – and the Sidhe tended to make their displeasure known by showing the target of their ire the color of their internal organs.

But first I had to find them. Still trying to be nonchalant, I scanned the park. My senses were screaming at me, and I did my best to ignore the small trickle of sweat running down my back. Why hadn't they attacked? Were they just watching me, trying to figure out who I was? The Winterfae in particular tended to be upfront in confronting intruders, even if that meant a knife in the back…

Then I saw someone that I was pretty sure was the source of the leaking power, and instantly I shifted gears from combat to cautious caring.

Have you ever been trying to fall asleep, only to hear a faucet dripping and making a racket? It might have been dripping all day without you noticing, but then the second the lights are off and your eyes are closed, the little drip-drip-drip noise is banging on your ears even if it's pretty quiet. Even if you try to turn on some white noise, you'll still hear the dripping faucet. Our brains are hard-wired to pick known sounds out of noise, which is why you can hear your name being spoken in a crowded room.

All of this, naturally, meant that once I _knew_ I was looking at a Sekirei, I could finally feel the presence of a Sekirei through all of the Winter. In fact, if I had to guess, she was the one giving off the Winter that had alerted me in the first place.

It really wasn't hard to pick her out of the crowd, mainly because of the way that every single pedestrian was studiously avoiding going anywhere near the section of the railing the woman was leaning against. A part of me could understand why they'd do that, to be honest – she was ticking every box on the checklist of bad things, and if there was one thing I'd learned as a wizard slash private investigator, it was that people were really good at seeing something that looked like it was going to be ugly and turning away in the hopes that someone else would take care of it.

And this certainly fit the bill. She was sitting curled up on the brick ledge, her back to the railing and her legs loosely folded in front of her. Her body language was screaming exhaustion, her eyes staring out dully at the world as she propped herself up with her hands. It was starting to get dark, but even so I could see that her face was slack, her expression distant and disconnected from the world. That by itself wouldn't have been too bad – plenty of people got tired and stopped to rest – if it weren't for the rest of the picture. She looked like she was about my physical age, same as Musubi, and also like Musubi she was just as beautiful as the other Sekirei I'd encountered. It was easy to tell thanks to her fashion choices. She didn't have any shoes on, and she wasn't wearing any pants that I could see from here. Hell's bells, she didn't have _any_ clothes to speak of beyond a shirt, unbuttoned down the front to below her well-endowed chest and revealing enough skin that I could guess at the rest, even if the shirt was just barely preserving her modesty. The bottom of the shirt did the same for the rest of her. Aside from the poorly-fitting shirt, she had a lab coat draped around her shoulders, though her arms weren't through the sleeves.

While it might have been getting dark, it was still plenty light enough for me to see the dark stains on the edges of the lab coat. Blood.

I didn't release my grip on my magic right away (I was just being cautious! She might lash out!) but I approached her carefully. The expression on her face didn't match a creature that had just killed a man or someone that was going to start a fight in the middle of a park, it looked like the expression of someone who'd gotten in over their head and been forced to run away before they got hurt. Something was telling me that this woman was the victim in whatever series of events ended up with her out on the streets with a bloody lab coat, and that same gut feeling was telling me she wasn't going to be a threat.

Plus, that dazed look was familiar. I'd seen it all too often on my beat as a private investigator.

"Hey," I said quietly, stopping a safe distance away. The Sekirei didn't react, even after I kneeled down in front of her and offered her a smile. "Are you okay?"

She didn't even look my way; it was like she didn't know I existed. "I'm broken," she whispered, her eyes staring past me like I wasn't there. "A failure…" I gritted my teeth. Hearing her quiet whisper made my inner Neanderthal grab his club and start smashing things. I kept smiling, though this one was more because I was imagining what I was going to do to the bastard that did this.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" I asked her gently. "It's gonna be getting cold soon, so you should probably go back to…" I trailed off. What was I going to say? 'Go back to where you came from'? She couldn't exactly go back to wherever that was, if her attire was any indication. Way to be a jerk, Dresden.

"I can't," she whispered again, her voice softly I could barely hear her. "I can't go back…"

"What?" I asked, starting to get a little more concerned. "What do you mean, you can't go back?" This was beginning to look like more trouble than I was expecting it to be. Then again, she was wearing a bloodstained lab coat that happened to look an awful lot like the one I'd seen Takami wearing the first time I'd met her. I could try calling her to figure out what was going on, though that came with its own host of problems. Least of which would be the riot act she'd read me after she finished freaking out, if the Sekirei Plan was going to be as violent as I suspected. "What happened?"

"I was… a failed product," the Sekirei murmured, her eyes finally shifting to focus on me. It wasn't much, but hey, progress. "So… I was scrapped… thrown out…"

I gritted my teeth and looked around. There were all these people here, walking past us and averting their eyes because they didn't want to be a part of whatever this was. Not a single one wanted to help this poor Sekirei. Nobody except for me; the Winter in me was urging me to offer assistance to a packmate, and if I was going to be fair I didn't really need much urging. The woman was beautiful, after all. And what was more, this was a chance to do something undeniably good. "Do you have a name?" I asked her. "I mean, I can't just keep saying 'hey, you', can I?"

The woman was silent for a while, and I wondered if I'd offended her somehow. "…Akitsu," she said finally, still staring at me a little unnervingly.

"Harry Dresden, wizard," I told her. "Nice to meet you, Akitsu." She was an alien, part of me was shouting. I couldn't be sure that she hadn't attacked someone and killed them, that part of me continued, and suggested that I just leave her here. The rest of me punched that part in the face and made it go away. Sure, she was an alien, but so was Musubi, and barring a heart attack the shrine maiden Sekirei hadn't posed any real threat to me yet.

With all of the reasons for and against laid out like that, there was really only one thing I could do. I stood up and offered her my hand. "So, Akitsu, uh, this might sound weird," I began, "but would you like to come with me?" Almost imperceptibly, her eyes widened. "I mean, if you don't have anywhere to go, you could crash at my apartment for a bit until you find a place to stay."

"Ah…" she murmured, still staring at me. "Why?"

There were a bunch of reasons this was a bad idea – she was an alien, she was incredibly powerful, she was wearing a bloody lab coat... But, looking at her, somehow none of them really mattered all that much. "Do I need a reason to help you out?" I asked her. That was, in my opinion, what magic should be used for – protecting and supporting people from threats they couldn't imagine existed for real. Gandalf might have been a secretive jerk, but I like to think his heart was in the right place. "C'mon, get up" I urged her when she didn't move. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I'd feel like a total jerk if I let you stay out here on your own, looking like that."

Akitsu stared at me without a word, and for a second I thought she was going to react poorly. Then, she shifted, and her hand slowly stretched for mine.

"Excuse me, but you can't take her," an arrogant voice said from behind me, and I tensed as I felt a powerful Sekirei behind me. Their power felt familiar, but without deliberately opening myself to it I couldn't tell the specifics. "That Scrapped Number belongs to me."

I turned around, already grasping at my magic and preparing for a scrap. "Oh, hello," I said, studying the two people that had stopped a few steps away from me. One was a young kid dressed in white clothes that were entirely too frilly. He definitely came from his parent's money, and I'd be surprised if he worked a day in his life for any of it. Slave away for rent money like the rest of us, and let's just see how long that unthinking arrogance lasts you. Beside him stood a tall man with light-colored hair, and I knew without needing to ask that he was the Sekirei I was sensing.

It could have been any number of things: the way he held himself, like someone that'd seen battle and knew how to look for trouble; the way he stood a few steps behind and to the rich kid's right; the way his entire bearing screamed 'I'm dangerous'… Or it could be the sword hanging off of his hip. That didn't help matters.

Seriously, what was up with these Sekirei and lugging giant swords around?

When I didn't move, the rich kid pouted at me. "I said, get away from her." He was probably the sword-Sekirei's Ashikabi. "She's the Scrapped Number that MBI is looking for, which makes her rare! I don't have a Scrapped Number in my collection yet."

I stared at him before I tried to say something and failed. Then, still staring at him, I raised a finger and wiggled it around in my ear. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," I said, pleasantly enough to surprise even myself. "Could you repeat that? Because it sounded like you're thinking of her as a prize to be won." My inner Neanderthal was throwing rocks right now and banging his chest, but I'm pretty sure I somehow managed to keep it from showing on my face.

I must have kept a good enough poker face, because the rich kid frowned at me and kept talking, clearly unable to see just how pissed off I was. "When I heard MBI was looking for a Scrapped Number," Mini-Wayne said, "I knew I had to find her first! But then I got here, and you were already claiming her, and that just won't do."

"Stop talking about Akitsu like she's just a thing!" I snapped. "She's a person, just like you and me." I glared at both of them, noticing that the Sekirei had placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. I was pretty sure he wouldn't start anything, since there were still bystanders around, but I couldn't be a hundred percent sure. "You haven't even asked her what _she_ wants to do, so what gives you the right to claim she belongs to you?"

When he opened his mouth to complain, I preempted him. "Know what? Why don't we let Akitsu decide what she wants to do?" I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a fair idea. So, how about it, Akitsu?" I asked her. "Do you want to come with me, or go with the brat over there?"

"Hey!"

I didn't look over at the kid's yelp, focusing on Akitsu instead. The whole time, I was pretty sure she hadn't taken her eyes off me. "Whatever you decide is what we'll go with," I told her gently.

"Ah…" A cold hand reached out, and I let Akitsu put her hand in mine. "I want… to go with you," she said quietly.

Alright then.

I smiled at her gently. "Sure thing," I told her. "Let me just take care of this real quick, then we can get going." At her nod, I turned back to the Sekirei-Ashikabi pair in front of me. "So, looks like the lady's made her choice," I said brightly. "Now scram."

"Mutsu!" the rich kid whined, looking at his Sekirei. "Can you get me the Scrapped Number?" I gathered power to me and prepared for anything.

'Mutsu's eyes flicked over to me instantly and didn't leave. "Mikogami," he said, slowly, "I think we should leave."

"Yeah," I growled. "You should. _Ignus_." A small ball of fire erupted in my right palm and I stared hard at Mutsu and Mikogami. "So get moving."

Mikogami's eyes widened in the flickering light of my little ball of sunshine until they were huge. "Are you a Sekirei too?" he asked excitedly. "Mutsu, I thought you said there were only a few male Sekirei, but there's another one right here!"

"Except I don't recognize him," Mutsu said, staring at me. "He isn't one of the Sekirei. Mikogami, between the Scrapped Number and… whatever he is," he said, leaning over next to Mikogami, "I believe that withdrawal is prudent at this moment." Judging by the way he was hovering protectively, I got the suspicion that even if Mikogami didn't leave Mutsu would just pick him up like a puppy and drag him to safety.

Mikogami huffed quietly, then turned around. "Fine! Fine! Mutsu, we're leaving." Mutsu watched me carefully before turning around and following his Ashikabi.

I held on to my fire for a little bit longer, waiting to see if they'd try something when I let my guard down, but after a few seconds of nothing happening I let it dissipate. "Well, that could have gone better," I sighed.

 _You might have made a powerful enemy today, my host,_ Lash said solemnly.

'It was worth it,' I told her immediately. 'He gave me the creeps.'

 _The creeps. How… descriptive._

I snorted. 'I'm sorry, when did I ever claim magic was a science?' I just grinned when Lash let out a soft sigh but didn't reply. Booyah, another point for Harry. "Alright, Akitsu," I said, turning to the Winter Sekirei. "Ready to go home?"

"Home," she repeated quietly, her eyes never leaving my face.

She stood up, and I looked away awkwardly. The movement made the shirt she was, er, wearing shift slightly and reveal more of her legs than I was really entirely comfortable with; still, though, I decided to ignore both the show and my blush. Without looking at her, and trying my hardest to ignore my peripheral vision, I shrugged off my jacket and handed it to her. "Go ahead and put that on after you button up the shirt," I said. After a few seconds of cloth rustling, she took the jacket; I waited a little bit longer and then looked back to see that she'd obediently put her arms through the sleeves. It looked like she'd tried to button up the shirt, but it was still open enough to present a very interesting sight. My jacket was a little big on her, but it fortunately covered enough of her chest that I could look at her without worrying about my cheeks catching fire.

I gave her another look up and down. It wasn't the best thing, but she was decent, at the very least. I realized my eyes were lingering, and I nodded once sharply – though Akitsu didn't seem to mind all that much, or at the very least she didn't visibly react to my staring. Now, how to get her to the apartment? There was exactly zero chance I could take the train with her looking like this – she was still dirty and a little disoriented-looking, and with my luck I'd probably end up getting myself arrested. On the other hand, it wasn't like we could walk home, she wasn't wearing any shoes.

Come to think of it… I frowned. She was barefoot, and her feet were dirty and scraped up. She must have walked all the way from wherever she'd run from. Akitsu was barely wearing anything at all, but she didn't seem to be bothered by the evening's chill in the slightest. She wasn't even shivering. It might just be because she reminded me of Winter, but… "Hey, Akitsu? Are you cold at all?"

"Cold?" she repeated after a second, tilting her head to the side without taking her eyes off me. Um… Okay, then. When she didn't continue, I figured that meant she was either fine or still in shock from whatever she'd been through. Whichever it was, I needed to get her off the streets and away from prying eyes.

Of course, I didn't have very many options left to me, so I sighed and pulled out my phone. The best bet was, at this point, to call a cab and hope that the engine lasted long enough to get us home. "Let me just call us a cab, Akitsu, and we'll take it back to my apartment."

* * *

I'd been worried that the cab driver would have asked plenty of awkward questions, but it turned out that he was exactly like every cab driver ever and just wanted to get paid. Well, worked for me.

"I'm home, Musubi," I called out as I entered, Akitsu trailing behind me. "And I've brought a - what are you wearing."

"Hi Harry!" Musubi said happily from the living room where she was kneeling. "Do you like it? I found it in the box of clothes Yukari sent, and they're super comfortable." What she was wearing was what I assumed was Yukari's old gym clothes; the top was incredibly tight on her, and the shorts did even less to cover up her legs than her shrine priestess skirt had. Still, she was decent at least, so small blessings. "Oh! Who is this?" she asked, catching sight of Akitsu.

"This is Akitsu," I said. "Akitsu, go ahead and get comfortable. I'll see if there's anything warm in the kitchen, okay?" Akitsu nodded and stepped into the living room; for the first time since she'd started staring at me, she turned her attention to something else as she started looking around the room. After she took a seat on the couch, though, it was like she was a statue made of ice; she was frozen there, not moving. Musubi, on the other hand, was practically vibrating in place, bouncing up and down. God help anyone who gives that girl coffee or an energy drink.

Her hyperactivity did do interesting things to her chest, though.

Shaking my head, I started rummaging around in the tiny kitchen that I rarely used. A quick search turned up some powdered hot chocolate mix I'd purchased back when I made my first shopping run, a while back. Foolish decision, Past Harry. But then again, how was I supposed to know the microwave would blow a fuse after I used it to nuke a dinner meal all of once? There was also some sort of tea in the cupboard, tucked away in the back. I'm guessing it was something Minato had left behind. After a few seconds of deliberation – that is, wishing I had a coin to flip – I grabbed the hot chocolate and started heating up some milk on the stove. Chocolate was good for situations like this, I think.

As I reentered the living room with three mugs, one for each of us, Akitsu was still looking around the room. The second that I stepped out of the kitchen, though, her eyes snapped to me and she resumed her staring. Her blank face made it pretty hard to tell what she was thinking, though I would be the first to admit I wasn't the best at that sort of stuff to begin with. I really wish Michael were here. He'd know what to do. "Here you go," I said, handing her one of the steaming cups and handing Musubi another. "Be careful. It's kinda hot." Akitsu accepted the mug and raised it to her lips, taking a small sip. I sat down on the couch next to her and took a sip from my own mug. Hm… Needs some of those little marshmellows. They really tie the whole thing together.

"…Warm," Akitsu finally said, her voice low.

I grinned. "Don't underestimate my ability to follow simple instructions on the back of a box," I bragged.

"That's amazing, Harry!" Musubi cheered, her eyes sparkling.

I turned to Akitsu. "Right now's probably not the best time to grill you on what happened," I said as I sat down on the couch next to Akitsu. "That can wait a little bit. Do you want to take a shower, get cleaned up?" Akitsu nodded slowly. "Great. Bathroom's over there. The hot water's busted, so sorry about that." The Winter Sekirei stood up, still staring at me. "In the meantime, Musubi, we should probably get dinner started." Since I'd been focusing on the ley lines, and then that whole mess with Akitsu, I'd missed dinner. My stomach was starting to make its unhappiness known. Pretty loudly, too.

"Okay," she chirped, heading over to the kitchen. "What do you want me to make?"

I mean, I _intended_ to help, but I was basically a walking disaster when it came to most food. Got a nasty chlorofiend on the loose? I'm your man. Need someone to track down a bigfoot or three? Just give me a call. Want me to tell you the difference between cabbage and lettuce? ...I'd like to phone a friend.

In the end, I just shrugged. "Anything's fine by me. Hey, Akitsu, do you want anything in particular?" I turned around, and then immediately squeezed my eyes closed. "Um, Akitsu?" I asked, my cheeks hot. "Just for future reference, could you maybe get changed in the bathroom?" There _had_ to be something wrong with these Sekirei. First Musubi, then those lightning twins, and now Akitsu; it was like every suburban mom every was right and they really were raised in a barn. Yeesh.

I tried super hard not think about what I'd seen, but despite my best efforts a very clear image of the bare naked body of Akitsu standing in the center of the room seemingly unconcerned about me seeing her naked formed in my mind. Her pale skin, the lab coat and shirt puddled around her ankles, and the shape of her - 'I know that's you, Lash,' I grumbled. Only my Sight memories were _that_ detailed. Her throaty laugh just confirmed my suspicions.

 _You're not complaining, though, my host._

I ignored her with all the dignity I could muster.

There was a particularly long silence and I heard Akitsu start to approach me. "Why?" she asked at last, and I licked my lips. It sounded like she was right in front of me, stark naked. My imagination went into overdrive, and I suddenly found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on keeping my eyes closed. I couldn't even blame this one on Lash.

Whatever kind of alien the Sekirei were, they apparently had no nudity taboo. Or maybe it was just Musubi and Akitsu. I'd have to ask Kagari sometime. "Because it's kinda awkward otherwise," I told her. Hopefully that would be enough for her. I knew, after all, exactly how powerful Akitsu was. "I mean, I'm a man, you're a woman, somebody walking in on this might misunderstand something."

"Ah... I understand," she said after a brief pause, and I tried hiding a sigh of relief. I heard her take a few steps away, and after I heard the shower running start running, I actually relaxed for real.

"Nothing special for dinner, Musubi," I said, going back to the topic at hand. "Something hot and filling. I don't think I've eaten since..." Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a burger from a fast food joint sometime around noon. "Since noon, I think."

Musubi turned around and smiled happily at me. "Okay! It'll be ready in about thirty minutes." Then she tilted her head to the side. "Hey, Harry? I know I'm still working on modesty, but…"

I had a sinking sensation that I didn't really want to know where this was going, but I was going to ask anyway, wasn't I? "What is it, Musubi?" Curse my traitor mouth. Curse it, I say!

She laid a finger on her cheek. "Aren't you supposed to take a shower with the door closed?"

"Yes. Yes, you are," I sighed. "Please don't tell me Akitsu left the door open."

"Okay, I won't tell you that," she said happily. And for the life of me, I'm certain she was doing it because I asked her not to, not because she was messing with me.

In front of me, I had an overly-excited Sekirei cooking dinner while wearing gym clothes that used to belong to the little sister I hadn't had until about a month ago; and behind me, I had a Sekirei taking a shower with the door open. And, Akitsu was probably still staring at me.

Stars and stones, when did my life turn into a sitcom?

…Thinking about it, it was about an hour after I met Musubi, I think.

Suddenly, I heard that typical kind of canned laughter you heard when someone on a TV show made a joke and then winked at the camera. 'Lash, my life is a big enough joke _without_ a laugh track, thank you very much,' I grumbled.

 _I thought it fitting, my host._

"Musubi, where's the box of clothes?" I asked the Sekirei, ignoring Lash. "Akitsu will need something to wear after her shower.

"It's in the other room," she said over her shoulder. "Not much of it fit, though. It was all really tight around my chest and hips." Yeah, I bet.

I shrugged and headed over to search for the box. "We'll see about getting you some clothes that fit soon, okay? For now, as long as you have some things that you can sleep in, that'll work." I just need to figure out the sleeping arrangements and we were set.

* * *

'This isn't going to work,' I sighed as I sat back, full from dinner. I hate it when what I say comes back to bite me in the ass. 'There's just not enough room for all three of us. I would take the couch and give them the beds, but Musubi made her position on _that_ clear enough last night.'

 _Several of my original's hosts would have killed, and in some cases literally did, to be in your exact situation,_ Lash remarked, sounding entirely too amused about this whole thing.

I just rubbed at the bridge of my nose. I get the feeling I'm gonna be doing that a lot in the coming weeks. 'Not helping, Lash,' I told her. 'Not helping in the slightest.' She just laughed.

"So, Akitsu, are you feeling better?" I asked the Sekirei. She nodded silently. "Alrighty then. It's kinda late, so if you feel like getting a good night's rest before we talk about what happened, that's fine with me." This time, she just watched me, not moving an inch. "...unless you want to talk about it?" Another nod. It was like playing Twenty Questions, only I didn't know whether it was an animal, vegetable, or mineral. "How about we start with what happened, if you feel up to it?"

For a long moment Akitsu didn't say anything, and I started to worry that I'd hit a landmine right off the bat when she shifted. "I was… broken. The man responsible, he attacked me and blamed me. He said it… was all my fault. I defended myself and fled." She paused. "That is when you found me."

"Glad I could help, even if I didn't do much," I said. Then I zeroed in on something else she'd said. "You defended yourself? That's where the blood on the lab coat came from, isn't it." Akitsu didn't answer, but she didn't have to. It was clear I was right. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that. On one hand, she'd injured someone, probably pretty badly; but on the other, she was just defending herself. I'd done a hell of a lot worse myself, so I couldn't exactly judge her on that front. "Putting that aside, what do you mean by saying you were broken?" She looked whole to me.

"I am a failure," she said quietly. "I cannot have an Ashikabi. I cannot bear my master's mark."

"Your master's mark?" I asked. I think Lara Raith had suggested something like that, once – or more than once. But in this case, given the whole Sekirei-Ashikabi thing, I was pretty sure it was more than that.

Then I noticed something I'd somehow missed before, in the whole fiasco with Mikogami and then getting her here. It didn't help that before the shower her hair had hung low over her forehead, and that it'd been dark in the park, and that I'd been distracted by more pressing matters – namely, food. On her forehead was a strange symbol. It looked like a yin-yang with three little comma-looking things on each side, with a bird in flight just above it. It was a brilliant scarlet. "Does it have something to do with your tattoo?"

"Oh!" Musubi chimed in. "That's the Sekirei mark! I have one too!" She squirmed around and tugged at the back of her shirt, revealing a matching tattoo at the base of her neck, right where her shoulder blades met. "But why is yours on your forehead, Akitsu?"

"It means I am broken," Akitsu repeated in a soft murmur, her expression intent on me. I glanced at Musubi, on the off-chance she knew more about what that meant, but one look at her clueless expression told me that would be an exercise in futility. I could all but literally see the question marks bobbing over her head. Yet another thing to throw on the pile labeled 'Things to ask Kagari later'. "It means I cannot have an Ashikabi."

"That's horrible!" Musubi gasped, suddenly horrified.

I glanced at her; that was the first thing that I'd heard her say that wasn't bubbly and excited. Instead, she actually sounded really upset. "Why's that, Musubi?"

Musubi closed her eyes and pressed a fist to her chest. "Finding their destined Ashikabi… That's something all Sekirei yearn for," she declared. "To be deprived of that…"

"It's that big a deal?" I asked. Kagari made it sound like it was something important, but ultimately optional. I'll have to talk to him about it next time I get the chance. "I, uh… Sorry, Akitsu." I rubbed the back of my head. "Didn't mean to bring up something like that." Akitsu didn't say anything. "So, um… That guy, Mikogami, he called you a Scrapped Number. What does that mean?" There we go! A nice, safe change of topic.

Akitsu blinked at me. "It means I… cannot bear my master's mark," she repeated.

Well, fuck. So much for _that_ idea. "Um…"

"I cannot have an Ashikabi," Akitsu said suddenly as I searched for some way to actually change the subject. "But… I think that if I could, it would be someone like you."

I grinned uncertainly. "I'm flattered, Akitsu."

"Will you let me serve you?"

That threw me for a loop. It wasn't exactly that I was against the idea, but it was more that she wanted it in the first place. "Why me?" I asked her.

Akitsu looked down. "Because you stayed," she said quietly. "Because… you took me in and helped me. You… feel familiar. Cold… but warm."

"Cold but warm, huh?" I mumbled. Cold but warm? I'd bet that she's feeling the Winter inside me. So what should I do? I was already Musubi's Ashikabi against my better judgment, and so... "Hey, Musubi?" I asked her, noticing that the hyperactive brunette was bouncing up and down so excitedly that she was almost vibrating in place.

"Yes?"

"Is that cool with you?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because I'm already your Ashikabi?" I didn't really mean for it to come out as a question, but it did anyway. "Wouldn't this be kinda like, I dunno... Like double-dipping with the same chip?" Musubi just looked at me blankly, and I sighed. Right. This is the girl that doesn't know what modesty is, there's no way she'd know food bowl etiquette. "Can I have more than one Sekirei?" I finally asked bluntly.

"Of course!" she answered immediately with a huge beaming grin on her face. "The more Sekirei you have, the better!"

Well. That put a different spin on things. Akitsu was watching me expectantly, while Musubi was looking back and forth between the two of us, smiling. Should I say yes? Akitsu was definitely powerful, and it was always better to have someone like her on my side instead of against me. And, if I was going to be honest, I kinda felt sorry for her.

I should be asking questions, I should be trying to weigh the pros and cons, I should be trying to examine the situation dispassionately. If I'd learned anything serving Mab as her Winter Knight, it was that there were times when you had to decide based on cold logic. But all I could think of when she asked me that question was her quiet voice declaring that she was a failure and that she was broken. I could imagine her flat, emotionless face.

For what I was considering, everyone I knew would probably try to kill me. Well, except Michael. I think he would be proud of my decision.

And that was enough for me.

"Yes," I told her. "I will be your Ashikabi."

"I will… serve you faithfully," Akitsu told me, an emotion I couldn't name present in her voice.

"Hooray!" Musubi cheered, throwing her arms around Akitsu. "I'm so happy for you!"

I looked and I couldn't be sure, but it was entirely possible that Akitsu had a tiny, happy little smile.

 _For what it's worth, my host,_ Lash murmured, _I think you made the right choice as well._

I grinned. 'Thanks, Lash. Means a lot.'

Then I clapped my hands, getting the attention of both Sekirei. "Okay, how about you two get ready for bed? I have to make a call really quick, so I'm just gonna slip outside for a bit."

As Musubi led Akitsu toward the back room, I shook my head. There were a couple ways this might play out, and I'm not entirely sure if it's gonna end well or not. Oh well; it's times like these were I need to remember the immortal words of John Lennon and just let it be. Whatever happens, happens.

I stepped outside and stared at my phone. I didn't _really_ have to do this, right? I could figure something else out, right?

...Damn it.

I called Yukari.

She picked up after only a few rings. "Hey, Big Brother, what's up?" she asked. "Oh hey, did the box work out?"

"I didn't see what all was in there, but that's pretty much what I'm calling about," I said. "She said that a lot of them were tight around her chest." I coughed a little awkwardly.

"Wooowwwww..." It sounded like she was drooling a little bit.

"Anyway," I said hurriedly as I tried and failed not to learn a little bit too much about Yukari, "I was hoping you might be able to come up tomorrow and help her go shopping for new clothes, stuff like that."

"Sure thing!" Yukari said happily. "I was gonna come up anyway for a surprise visit, but this works just as well! I'm gonna support you to the best of my ability. Anything you need, just give me a call!"

"Thanks, Yukari, that means a lot. Oh yeah," I said, "there's... actually two that need help. Her friend showed up tonight wearing nothing but a shirt and bloodstained coat, and from what she told me, the guy that attacked her blamed her. He was apparently saying that it was all her fault. It's possible the boyfriend might have gotten violent thinking she was hiding her," I said, not technically lying while cheerfully slandering this made-up man. Pretending he looked like Nicodemus made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"What kind of monster was she dating?!" Yukari shouted, rightfully mad at this horrible cad.

I just shrugged. "She's better off now, I hope. So, you're coming up tomorrow?"

"Yep!" she said, popping the P. "Like I said, anything you need I'm happy to help! Because I'm your beloved younger sister, after all." I swear she's got a screw loose or something. But I was smiling all the same.

As I ended the call and closed the phone, I couldn't help but wonder. That went a lot better than expected, actually. And judging by what had happened earlier tonight, Akitsu and Musubi seemed like they were gonna get along. I'm not sure how I'd deal with two Sekirei fighting in my tiny apartment, but I'm pretty sure it'd end up with me no longer having a place to stay, which would suck. All in all, it seemed like things weren't going too terribly, minus me not having any budget to speak of.

Which was why I was on edge, waiting for things to go wrong. I mean, c'mon, that's the way things _always_ go, so why should this be any different?

* * *

 **And we increase our cast by one. Hopefully this won't backfire horribly. There is, however, an 86.287% chance it will, mainly because I'm terrible at character-driven stuff.**

 **I figure Harry would definitely be the type of person to take Akitsu in off the street, given his white knight proclivities. And I think I justified him accepting her request well enough. Michael is one of Harry's role models, one of the people that he looks up to and trusts above all others. Anything that Michael would approve of, Harry would probably jump at it.**

 **Also, Mikogami stumbled on Harry in the park. That wasn't exactly intended, but I was writing the scene and the little Ashikabi of the South decided to poke his nose in. Harry, however, made it very clear he wasn't welcome.**

 **So! Important questions: How am I handling Yukari so far? Given that this is her first appearance, I'm still trying to ping her voice. And how am I handling Akitsu? I'm trying for a blend of 'I desire an Ashikabi' plus 'I will do anything you ask' plus 'You saved me', but I'm not entirely sure if I've got her right. I've gone over the scenes where she appears in the source material, but even then it's not like she had many lines.**

 **As for sticking to canon, aside from the addition of Akitsu (I've got it split up into four tentative arcs) the first bit of the story will have to be close. It's almost unavoidable, really, since it's introducing most of the main characters. I'm doing my best to sit down and think 'Okay, Harry's here, what would he do in this situation? And how does that change how everyone else reacts?' Since he hasn't actually, y'know, done anything yet, he won't be changing anything.**

 **Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.**


	5. Fifth Spell

**The Fifth Spell**

* * *

You know how sometimes, you realize you're dreaming? And then suddenly you wake up?

Well, I had the first part down, but I was still working on the second part. I'd gone to bed the night before after ensuring that Musubi and Akitsu were both decent and comfortable, and almost immediately fallen asleep. Turns out, spending several hours mapping out ley lines and then taking care of a Sekirei that all but literally dropped into my lap makes for a tired wizard.

I'm not sure how long I slept before I started dreaming; all I know is that sometime during the night I was suddenly aware that I was wandering through a fairy-tale forest, filled with all sorts of fantastic trees and flowers. It almost looked like some of more beautiful sights I'd seen in the Nevernever - only without the sights trying to eat me. These trees were old, too, and while I might not have ever been a Boy Scout, I could tell that they weren't the type of trees you'd find in Lake Meadow Park, or anywhere else on Earth. This kind of lush green foliage you could only find in places linked to the supernatural, or in dreams. The branches above me were so thick that sunlight had to fight to make it down to the ground, but despite the lack of natural light I could see just fine.

Since Lash was walking down the path alongside me, and since I had my real appearance back, I hedged my bets toward this being a dream. And since it was a dream, I figured that I didn't really need to worry all that much. This was probably just another Sekirei dream.

"How interesting," Lash observed. "In the last one, I was merely an observer until the very end. The safeguards I had created in the event of a second message seem to have allowed me to be present in the dream's entirety, this time."

I smiled. "Nice of you to be along for the ride, Lash. Hopefully this forest won't end up on fire like the city was."

Lash giggled. "Then maybe you should try to not set it on fire, Harry."

"Oh har har, very funny." Despite my words, I was grinning. "Remind me again, which one of us thought it was a good idea to give the wizard Hellfire?" Lash just smiled.

A faint noise floated through the air, and I paused. "Hey, can you hear that?" It sounded like a young girl crying. It might just be the dad in me coming to the foreground, but when you're the father to a little girl that kind of sound is basically a homing beacon.

Lash and I followed the sound for some weird length of time. Time flowed strange in the Nevernever, and this place reminded me of it. It could have been five minutes, it could have been five hours, it could have been five days; but eventually, we found the source of the crying. It was the largest tree, and the center of the forest, and there was a little girl nestled in its trunk and crying. She's the Sekirei, I guessed, using all those skills I learned over years of being a private investigator. Lash and I stopped under the branches where she was perched, and I looked up. "Hello," I called up to her, and her sobs dwindled. "Are you in trouble? Is there something I can do to help you?"

Slowly, she uncurled from the ball she'd curled up in and peeked out at me; I could make out brilliantly green eyes the color of leaves in the summertime, and some long blonde hair, but beyond that I couldn't see anything past the rhythmic pulsing glow surrounding her. "Are the bad men gone?" she asked.

"There's nobody else here," I told her, sympathy lacing my voice. Someone must have attacked her back in the real world. "You're safe now, so come on down from there, okay?"

"That lady is scary, though."

I laughed at the nonplussed look on Lash's face. "I know she's scary, but I promise she won't hurt you," I told the girl.

The little Sekirei looked at me, then slowly climbed out onto a nearby tree branch. I spread my arms out, and she jumped for it. Normally something like that would have me reaching for my magic, but this was a dream, and the rules were different in this world. The girl floated down, light as a feather, and landed safely in my arms. After looking up at me, she giggled and threw her arms around my neck. "Are you the one that's going to be Kuu's big brother?" she asked.

"You're a Sekirei, right?" I asked. When she nodded, I smiled. "Are you talking about your Ashikabi?"

"Uh-huh!" she nodded. "Big Sis Takami said that Kuu's Ashikabi would be my big brother. But then bad men came and the mean lady with the big scythe hurt Big Sis Takami." Coincidences usually weren't, so that meant I definitely needed to have that long conversation with Takami sometime in the near future. "But I made them go away."

"I just hope you're safe," I said gently, setting her down. She took my hand and we walked side by side down the shaded path, Lash trailing behind us. "What's your name?"

"Kusano," she whispered, smiling up at me shyly. I was struck by the sudden urge to buy her a pony.

"Well, Kuu, let's get you home now, okay?"

Kusano looked up at me with trust in her eyes, beaming up at me. "Yes, Big Brother!" she said happily.

Hand in hand, we walked into the forest, illuminated by some green sourceless light.

* * *

The last time I woke up from a Sekirei dream, everything had been on fire. This one happened to be decidedly better.

Waking up slowly was a luxury I hadn't had all that often back home in Chicago. It always seemed like some new disaster was cropping up and demanding my attention, though to be fair more often than not Mister was the one acting as my alarm clock. That being said, I'd gotten used to taking my time waking up, and today wasn't looking to be any different. 'Another dream, Lash?' I asked her, just to double check. It was pretty obvious, but it never hurt to be sure.

 _It seems so, my host,_ she murmured. _The child seemed to be in some distress. Wherever did you meet her?_

I was about to say I had no clue at all when my hazy memory decided to remind me of the day before. 'The Forest,' I said suddenly. 'As we were leaving, I felt that shock. That had to be when it happened. But... I don't remember touching anyone...'

 _Will you attempt to find her?_

I frowned, staring at the ceiling. 'I don't know,' I said finally. 'She seemed like she's safe for now, at least. Right now, things are a little hectic, with Musubi and Akitsu...'

Eh, that could wait until after my run and breakfast. Yawning, I tried to sit up and rub at my eyes, key word there being tried. I made it maybe half an inch before my progress was halted kinda abruptly. Like yesterday, my right arm was pinned by Musubi clinging it tightly to her chest, but unlike yesterday, when I tried to move my left arm to free myself it was likewise held in place. I turned my head and saw Akitsu with her eyes closed, one hand clutching gently but firmly at the shirt I wore to bed. When Musubi was asleep, she looked innocent and happy, but Akitsu didn't show any more expression than when she was awake, like she was a frozen doll.

Still, I couldn't just sit and stare all morning, I had things to do. With a little bit of creative wriggling that might be able to put Mister's feline gymnastics to shame, I managed to free myself from Musubi's clutches and sneak a pillow back into her arms. Musubi let out a sleepy complaint and tightened her grip, squeezing the stuffing out of the poor pillow. Shaking my head at her unconscious strength, I turned my attention towards getting my arm out of Akitsu's grasp without waking her up. I managed to do so, pulling my sleeve out of her surprisingly cool fingers, and pulled the blankets up to cover the Sekirei a little bit better. I wish they'd stick to their own beds, but... Well, gonna make the best of the situation, right?

My plan from here on was, to be fair, a good plan. I'd be up, go out on my run, and be back before Musubi or Akitsu woke up, just like the past two days. Of course, since it was one of _my_ plans, naturally it went wrong almost immediately.

Case in point, as I was getting dressed to go for my jog, I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned to see Akitsu staring at me, still lying in bed. "Good morning, Akitsu," I said softly so as to not wake Musubi as well. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ah..." she said quietly. "Yes. Good morning, Master."

I grinned. "That's good." I got back to getting ready, suddenly hoping that I'd managed to get my pants on before Akitsu got up. She was watching me with entirely too much interest.

Before too much longer, I was ready to go - I even patted my pocket to make sure I had my phone with me. "You're... leaving?" Akitsu asked quietly, in that emotionless voice of hers.

I turned, my hand on the doorknob. "I'm just going out for my morning run. I'll be back in about a half hour," I assured her. She blinked slowly. When she started to get to her feet, the blanket around her shoulders starting to slip, I hurried to tell her, "Sorry, Akitsu, but I think it'd be better if you held down the fort here until I get back. I mean, you don't have any clothes that fit yet, so..."

I trailed off, scratching at my head while trying to figure out how best to phrase this without sounding like a total jerk. Fortunately for me, Akitsu nodded once and laid back down, still watching me. "Understood," she said in her soft voice.

"Sorry," I repeated myself, before disarming my wards and slipping outside.

Then I sighed. 'Lash, why do I feel like the biggest jerk right now?'

 _It was unavoidable, Harry_ , she told me gently. _With that in mind, might I suggest we take a shorter route today?_

I nodded. A good compromise was supposed to leave everyone unhappy, so I guess this just wasn't a very good compromise. 'Good idea. I can make up for it tomorrow, if Yukari does manage to swing by this afternoon.'

The run itself was uneventful, something I was glad about - I'd been having far too much excitement before breakfast these days - and I returned home feeling good about the day ahead of me. That feeling, naturally, didn't last.

As I went up the stairs that led to my apartment and opened the door after I disarmed my wards, I stopped and turned; the landlord was standing on the steps, arms folded behind his back and scowl plastered on his face as he stared intently at my door. "Mr. Landlord. Can I help you?" I asked him, wiping some sweat from my brow.

He aimed his formidable scowl at me. "Mr. Dresden!" he snapped, giving me the stink-eye. "Your apartment's been loud and obnoxious lately! What the hell's going on in there?"

"Sorry, sir," I said with a sigh. "It's been a long few days."

"Hmph." Somehow, he didn't seem all that impressed. "I rented this room out to you because you were studying for college exams, but now you're just wasting your time pretending to be a... a wizard! And a private investigator!" He said that like he didn't know which one was worse.

I slowly counted to ten. "Sorry," I apologized again. "I'll try to keep the noise down from now on."

"You'd better," he huffed. "And what's more, I've been hearing a girl's voice. This room is a single! Staying with someone else is a contract violation! If I catch you with anyone in there..."

Erk. Okay, hey, universe, it's me, Harry.

I know you and I don't get along all that well, what with the whole 'treating laws of physics as polite suggestions' thing I have going on, but if you could just have the stars align and be nice to me for once, I promise I'll –

"Harry?" Musubi called, poking her head out of the door. I realized she was wearing one of Yukari's shirts, and nothing else. "This shirt is really tight... And I don't think any of these clothes will fit Akitsu!"

Screw you too, universe.

The landlord's eyes bulged in their sockets. "T-two girls?" he shouted. Musubi ducked back inside. "Dresden! Just what is going on here?!"

"They're my... They don't have anywhere else to go," I sighed. "So I was letting them stay here until we figured things out. For what it's worth, I honestly didn't know about the single rule."

He glowered at me. "I'll... make allowances for your accident," he said finally. "So you have two weeks to find a new apartment!" Turning around, he stormed back down the steps, muttering to himself the whole time.

"H-hey, wait-!" But before I could even finish calling out, he disappeared around the corner. Groaning in defeat, I stepped inside my apartment and closed the door behind me. "Ugh... Well, that could have gone worse," I grumbled. Two weeks, huh? Well, at least he didn't kick us out immediately. We have some time to figure things out.

Musubi looked at me and clutched her hands together in a pleading gesture. "I'm sorry, Harry," she told me, her eyes watery with unshed tears. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine," I assured her. "I figured something like this was going to happen sooner or later, so I was already looking into other places for us to live." I looked over at Akitsu, but she was still just staring at me emotionlessly. After a second, I twigged onto the fact that she was in a similar state of undress as Musubi and looked away. "Anyway, I'm gonna take a shower while you two finish getting dressed. I know things aren't perfect, but Yukari should be here soon, and she should be able to get you two sorted out." With that, I ducked into the bathroom so they could finish getting changed in privacy. Totally not to escape the fact that there were two basically naked girls in my apartment, nope.

After a quick shower, I felt marginally more human again. Fortunately, I'd remembered to grab a change of clothes for after the shower, or it would have been really awkward; in the end, everyone was dressed without anyone seeing things that they shouldn't. Musubi had taken it on herself to make some breakfast with what supplies I had left, and my stomach and I were enjoying the very distracting smells wafting from the kitchen when there was a knock on my apartment door. I opened the door, wondering if it was the landlord again, to see a delivery guy built like a brick outhouse standing there with a package in his hands. "Can I help you?" I asked.

"Are you Dresden?"

"That's my name," I said. "Got something for me?" I don't remember ordering anything recently, but Yukari might have sent me something.

"Sign here, please," he said, his tone totally uninterested in what he was holding. Shrugging, I did as he asked. "Thank you, and have a nice day," he droned as he shoved the package at me and went back down the stairs.

I closed the door, staring at the package he'd delivered. "What..." My eyes narrowed. I recognized the sign in place of a return address. "MBI. Of course."

Setting the package down, I carefully opened it up. It could have been anything at all, and I wasn't taking chances. Turns out I didn't need to worry; inside the box were a couple sets of clothes that happened to be exact matches of the outfit Musubi been wearing before. While she got changed, happily humming to herself, I glanced over the note that had been lying on top of her outfit. "While the bloomers are fine, these are what she should be wearing! Tournament rules, sorry! Signed, the Professor. Smiley face," I read out loud.

Minaka was definitely one crazy guy, that was for sure. But at the same time, I was a little worried about the way he somehow knew what kind of clothes Musubi had tried on and found comfortable. Was he watching us from somewhere? Or was it some sort of general ability of the Sekirei? I had no way of knowing for sure, and that was dangerous.

'Lash?' I asked her. 'Have you noticed anything from Musubi or Akitsu that might be communication?'

 _Nothing at all, Harry._ She sounded just as irritated as I felt. _Which leads me to the unavoidable conclusion that we're being watched._

'Hell's bells,' I sighed, running a hand through my hair. 'I was afraid of that. We really need to find a new place to live, and if MBI's keeping tabs on us I'd prefer sooner rather than later.'

Happy humming brought me out of my chat with Lash, and I turned to see Musubi twirling in place with her usual outfit on. "I knew it! My gi is the best, after all," Musubi said with a huge smile. After that, she paused and looked at me, a little expectantly.

"It looks good on you," I said immediately. I'd been around the dating scene enough to know what to do when a girl stood in front of you after changing and waited. Musubi smiled happily at my praise and preened, going back to the box and rooting around in it. Akitsu was just standing off to the side, watching me.

Just then, someone knocked on the door for the third time this morning, and I sighed. "I'm certainly popular this morning," I groused as I disarmed my wards yet again. "I wonder if it's the landlord again." I opened the door.

This proved to be a bit of a mistake, since I barely had enough time to identify the blur hurtling towards me before it slammed into my chest.

"Big brotherrrrrr!" Yukari shouted joyously, burying her face in my chest. "I missed you so, soooo much!" I caught her, grunting with the strain, but Maggie'd done the same thing every now and then after getting used to me. Still, Yukari weighed a _lot_ more than Maggie had.

"Oof!" I grunted, staggering a few steps from the impact. Seriously, did she back up just to get a few steps for a running start? I have to admire her dedication, if nothing else. "...Hi, Yukari." A small movement caught my eye, and I glanced to the side, to where Akitsu had moved. She'd approached with her eyes locked on Yukari, face expressionless as usual, and the feeling of Winter was pushing at me. Hastily, I freed one hand and waved at her. After a second, the Winter receded from my senses as her aura settled and Akitsu nodded once. Whew... I didn't know what she was going to do, but it probably wasn't good. I think we dodged a bullet there.

Yukari didn't seem to notice, because after a few more seconds of trying to squeeze me like a tube of toothpaste she slackened her grip a little bit and looked up at me. "Did you miss me?" she asked.

"My ribs didn't," I said with a grunt, greedily taking a breath before she could renew her assault.

Yukari frowned at my answer and let go entirely, taking a few steps back and planting her balled-up fists on her hips. "No, no, no!" she scolded me. "You're supposed to say, 'I missed you so much, Yukari!' and then we'd hug again and have a brother-sister moment!" She sighed. "I had everything planned out, too..." she muttered.

I just raised an eyebrow and didn't comment on that last part. "That so?" I asked her.

"Of course!" she said, raising her chin to grin at me confidently. Now that she wasn't burying her face in my stomach and cling like a limpet, I got my first good look at Yukari. She was slim and pretty, with a face that looked a lot like her mother's, though Yukari's hair was still jet-black, pulled to the side and kept out of her face by a small hairclip. She was wearing what I assumed to be the uniform of the school she'd be attending, a brown jacket with a white blouse underneath. Both her tie and skirt were made of the same red plaid. All in all, a fairly typical uniform, if the ones I saw on the street were any indication. Still, though, I'm pretty sure the platform boots weren't regulation. They gave her a few extra inches that put her at just about my shoulder.

Well, I wasn't one to throw stones about changing up the uniform. I always held that those wizard robes were too drafty anyway.

Yukari nodded again. "Of course you should say that!" she repeated brightly. "How else should you treat your beloved little sister, who came all the way from the countryside just to see her wonderful big brother?"

I chuckled. "It's good to finally see you, Yukari," I said. "How was your trip up here?"

She grinned up at me. "The ride up took a while, but I was productive on the way up." She patted the brown bag she had slung over her shoulder. "I brought some books along, and got some important reading done."

"That's good," I nodded. I'm a big fan of books, especially since I couldn't watch movies without sitting in the nosebleed section. Needless to say, with nothing else to entertain me I learned to appreciate the written word really fast.

"Mm-hm! So now I know what I should do next," Yukari told me seriously. "Um... You!" she said suddenly, leveling a finger at Musubi. Musubi, for her part, just blinked and pointed at herself in confusion. "And you!" she continued, whirling to point at Akitsu. "What is your relationship with my big... broth..."

She trailed off, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. For a second, I thought that she could sense the Winter as well - and then she started advancing on Akitsu, fingers twitching. "Yukari, are you -" I was going to ask if she was okay, since I was understandably concerned about the strange way she was acting. She was staring at Musubi and Akitsu with the same intensity Akitsu stared at me, and it was a little unnerving.

When she lunged for Akitsu at a speed that, in the heat of the moment, seemed like they rivaled a well-fed White Court vampire and started groping the Sekirei, panting and giggling madly, for some strange reason I was no longer concerned. "They're... they're so big!" Yukari gasped, cheeks flushed. "And soft, too!"

"Ah," Akitsu murmured, looking down to where Yukari was cheerfully molesting her. Fortunately, that was her only reaction as the girl pushed through all notions of personal space.

"Um, Harry?" Musubi asked, tilting her head as she watched all this happen. "I'm confused... Is this modest?"

"No, Musubi, it's not..." I sighed, rubbing at the bridge of my nose in an attempt to stave off the headache I just _knew_ was coming. "Yukari? Is this… a thing with you?"

"Ooh..." Yukari mumbled, completely ignoring me. "F? G? If they're that big, I'll have to... Ah!" She jumped and turned to look at me. She still didn't let go of Akitsu's chest. "Sorry, big brother... Is this exciting you too much?" she asked mischievously.

 _Oh, I_ like _her_ , Lash said, giggling.

I sighed. 'Of course you would,' I said. 'Now, if only she would stop fondling Akitsu like that...'

 _I notice you haven't denied her question._

I ignored that little barbed comment with the ease of long hours of unwilling practice courtesy of Bob. "Yukari," I said, "if you're gonna be finished sometime soon..."

"Oh!" Yukari exclaimed, blinking like she'd just woken from a trance. "Uh, right!" She let go of Akitsu - thankfully - and backed up to my side again. "I almost forgot!" she said, clapping her fist against an open palm. "You two big-boobed women! What is your relationship with my big brother?"

Musubi pointed at herself and with a huge grin, said, "I'm Harry's Se-"

"Musubi!" I yelped, rushing over to cover her mouth with my hand. "Remember what that Minaka guy said?" I whispered to her. "We have to keep quiet about it, or MBI will retaliate."

She blinked. "Oh, that's right," she said, voice muffled by my hand.

"Do you two need some time alone?" Yukari asked, grinning knowingly at me. "If you're in the middle of something, I can come back later..."

"It's not like that, Yukari," I said hurriedly. This was starting to bring back memories of that one time when Anastasia had walked in on two werewolves halfway through getting down while I gave CPR to my topless apprentice. "Not at all."

"Just sayin'..."

I rolled my eyes. "Musubi's staying with me while we figure out what to do from here," I reminded Yukari. "She doesn't have anywhere else to go, remember?"

Yukari stared at me thoughtfully for a second before her expression cleared. "Oh, yeah, that's right, I remember now. So that makes you..." she said, turning to Akitsu.

That was about the time Akitsu decided to speak up. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop _her_ in time. "Ah... I belong to Master Harry."

Well, this is just swell.

Whatever Yukari was about to say was lost when her jaw dropped. "I... you... In _that_ kind of relationship?!" she gasped. Her breathing started getting faster and faster, and small red spots appeared on her cheeks. Was she having a panic attack? Then she stopped, took a deep breath, and nodded resolutely. "No! I said I was going to be the best little sister I could, so I'll support you fully in your lifestyle choice, big brother! I've prepared for even this situation!"

Ignoring my flabbergasted stare (I like that word, flabbergasted. It's a good word) she opened up her bag and started rummaging through it. "No, no, that's not it," she muttered, digging deeper in the bag. "Ugh! I _know_ I brought the one where the brother and sister... and that one's one of my favorites, too, I had to have packed it..."

Stars and stones. When exactly did I lose control of my life?

 _Approximately thirty seconds after you let Yukari through that door._

'Not helping, Lash.'

* * *

So, as it turned out, Yukari had not only read up on the activities she'd decided Musubi, Akitsu and I were engaging in, she was able to quote passages from the book in question, something I learned when she started writing out a list of things we'd need after giving up her search for whatever book she needed.

Yeah.

After I finished adding that little tidbit to my swiftly-growing list of 'Things I Didn't Need to Know About Yukari But Now Do', I set about the arduous task of getting her back on topic. It took some doing, but eventually we were able to get around to the subject of why Yukari'd come up to Shin Tokyo in the first place. A little bit more time spent creatively answering questions, and Yukari decided that she was taking both Sekirei shopping. When I'd started to protest, she hummed in thought, laying a finger on her cheek. "Well, I _guess_ you can come along," she said, like that's what I was complaining about. "If it were anyone else, I'd say, 'Even if you're in THAT kind of relationship with them, there are some shops where a boy can't go!' but if it's you it's fine!" she told me.

I backed down immediately. "Uh, actually, know what? You just go right ahead and do that without me, I've got some... wizard stuff to do." Hey, I was father to a teen girl. I was pretty sure I knew _exactly_ what kind of stores she would be taking Akitsu and Musubi to, and I really didn't want to go there.

 _Ah. 'Wizard stuff.' Truly, you have a way with words._

'Managed to turn _you_ from the Dark Side, didn't I?'

Yukari had bought the quick story I'd spun as for why Musubi had clothes now, but she'd still insisted on the shrine maiden going with her. I didn't really argue with her, since it'd be pointless in the long run, so Yukari and the two Sekirei headed off into the city to do their shopping. As for me, I didn't have any new cases after checking my website, so I headed into the city myself. That forest in the park, the one that had shown up overnight, was tripping my weirdness sensor something fierce, and I wanted to confirm my sneaking suspicion that I knew what had caused it to spring up so fast.

A quick trip downtown later, I was wandering around the outskirts of the park, looking it over. My curiosity had been piqued, and I hesitated for a second before ducking into a convenient alleyway. There was definitely something strange about the forest - beyond the fact that it appeared instantly, I mean - and I intended to find out what. The only problem with that plan, far as I see it, was the large number of troops surrounding every entrance, all of them with dangerous-looking guns and MBI armor. A few trucks were parked by the bigger entrances, too. "Well, I won't be going in the front," I muttered under my breath. Fine, fine. That wasn't even the plan to begin with, anyway.

Because I had other options. Not all magic was flash and bang, after all.

 _No, Harry, just the kind you specialize in._

I rolled my eyes at Lash's interjection. 'Yes, thank you, very helpful,' I grumbled. 'Remember Ascher? Pretty sure that was your hand in the Hellfire she was using to burn us to a crisp.'

 _The sins of the mother are not the sins of the daughter,_ Lash said primly. _I am not my progenitor, and she is not me._

I grinned and focused, closing my eyes before carefully opening my Third. Using my Sight in a place this crowded could be dangerous, and I could easily overload myself with seeing the truth behind the world, but I hadn't survived this long without learning how to minimize my risks. 'When I can,' I told Lash preemptively. 'I know what you were going to say.'

Lash just laughed quietly.

The first thing I did was to glance down at my chest, making sure I didn't actually look at myself. The lines I'd seen before were still there; the faint golden line that reminded me vaguely of flames that signified my link with Kagari, and the strong one for Musubi. But there was a new one, pulsing with the sense of growth and new life. That would have to be the link with Kusano, like I'd suspected... and it led straight toward the park. Now, I could just so happen to be in a position where the park was directly in line with wherever Kuu was hiding, but in my experience with all things supernatural coincidences usually weren't.

Moving carefully so as to not expose myself to something I didn't want to, I peeked around the corner at the forest. Despite everything I've been through, I couldn't stop a gasp of awe at what I Saw.

In the human world, the forest in the botanical garden was just that - a forest, filled with large trees and overgrown bushes. But with my Sight, I Saw it as so much more than that. Every leaf and branch shined with an internal light, that same green glow I'd seen in my dream. It shone like a brilliant emerald monument to life and growth.

It was beautiful.

In my career as a wizard, I'd seen a lot of fantastic things. Granted, most of those wanted to kill me, so I hadn't really stopped to smell the roses. The inhuman beauty of the Winter Court had, to some degree, numbed me to some of the sights, but not totally.

And I was glad I hadn't gotten numb to the point that seeing this fairy-tale forest didn't awe me.

I gazed at the shimmering forest in front of me for a timeless second before closing my Sight and going back to the regular world. I would have liked to keep it open, honestly; I'd had more than my fair share of seeing the bad things in life, and I had precious few of the good memories. But there were too many people around, and I couldn't handle seeing all of them with my Sight open. It'd probably drive me mad, not that it was really all that long a trip some days.

 _You really should focus, Harry,_ Lash murmured.

I just snorted under my breath. There really wasn't much to focus on. The MBI troops were swarming the place like Stormtroopers, and unlike the boys in white I don't really think these guys would miss all that often if they started taking potshots. 'Looks like we're gonna be finding another way in,' I offered idly. 'Maybe we parachute in from above? I've always wanted to try that.'

 _Where would we find the parachutes? And how would we explain ourselves after?_ Lash wasn't shooting down the idea, I knew, she was just wondering out loud.

'Freak skydiving accident?' I suggested. I'd been through weirder.

Lash giggled. _That is certainly an option, then._

With nothing more I could do without exposing myself to risks I really didn't want to take, I turned and headed home. The trip home was mostly uneventful, even if I passed several more Sekirei on my way. They were all on the edge of my awareness, and without accidentally bumping into one of them I wasn't going to be able to tell who they were, so I just let it go. Two of them in particular felt strong, so I definitely didn't want to tangle with them when they were just wandering around town and not stirring up trouble. Back in Chicago, I couldn't go five steps without some baddy popping up out of the woodwork and making things difficult, so I really appreciated the downtime.

Despite trying to relax, I couldn't get the image of Kuu, all alone and curled up into a ball of misery, out of my head. 'Lash, what do you think we should do about Kuu and the garden?' I asked the fallen angel. No sense in putting off the decision any later. 'I mean, I don't want to just leave her there in that park. You were there, you say how she was crying and all alone.'

Lash was silent for a long moment. Which was equivalent to me not saying anything for an hour, if I could bear to deprive the world of my sense of humor for that long. _The Sekirei child is not your daughter,_ she said finally.

I stiffened. 'I know that!' I snapped. 'Why would you -'

 _Because I don't want you to make the mistake of thinking of her as a replacement, Harry,_ Lash said gently. _You are my partner and beloved host, and I don't want to see you hurting yourself like that. Far better for me to be harsh now than for you to be sorry later._

Sighing, I shook my head and shoved my hands in my pockets. 'I... Thanks, Lash. But I know better than to think that. I just...' I sighed again. 'I think she needs help, Lash, and she's just a kid.'

 _If that is what you wish to do, my host, then we shall let nothing stand in our way._

Grinning, I sighed at her declaration. It was easy to forget sometimes that Lash was the shadow of a Fallen Angel, but not when she says stuff that sounds like something straight out of a bad guy from a comic book.

When I got back to the apartment, I was surprised to see Yukari slipping out the front door. "Bye!" she called into the apartment, before turning around and almost running into my chest. "Oh!" she yelped with surprise. "Big brother! You're back... early..."

"I was just out for a walk," I said. "Did you think I was out on a case or something?"

Yukari shook her head. "No, I just wasn't expecting you back until later. My bad!" She grinned. "We had to go to a few places to find everything, but I think you'll be happy with the stuff I got!"

I was a little suspicious about the mischievous grin she was sporting, but there was something else in that sentence that I had to address first. "Wait, 'everything?'" I repeated. "How much stuff did you buy?"

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "enough? Yeah, 'enough' works." I slapped my hand to my face. "Oh, and you don't need to worry about paying me back!"

"Good, because that was my next question," I muttered through a faceful of palm. "How'd you pay for all that 'enough', anyway?"

Yukari planted her hands on her hips. "You should have told me Musubi was loaded, big brother! She even had one of those MBI credit cards with no limit! What kind of people are you friends with?"

"They're a colorful crowd," I admitted. "Anyway, were you leaving already?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," she sighed. "I wanted to spend the day with you, but it took longer to get up here than I thought it would, and I have some other errands to run."

"Do you need a place to stay? The apartment's pretty cramped with the three of us already, but I think we can work something out."

Yukari grinned. "As tempting as that sounds, I'm gonna be staying with a friend of mine. I have everything planned out!" She pumped her fist triumphantly, and I couldn't help but grin. Her cheer was infectious. "Well, I gotta go. It was great seeing you, even for a little."

"Good seeing you too, Yukari," I said. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Will do!"

With another cheery wave, Yukari shouldered her bag and dashed down the steps, jumping over the last one and sticking the landing before hurrying off. _I like her,_ Lash said simply.

'Same here,' I admitted. 'Makes you wonder what she was like before the accident.' Well, no sense in worrying about what-ifs and has-beens. Let's figure out what exactly Yukari bought for Musubi and Akitsu. I was a little worried.

Turns out? I was right to be worried. "Ah... Welcome home," Akitsu said quietly from where she was standing by the couch.

I didn't reply, mainly because I was too busy staring at her new clothes. Akitsu was wearing what the little voice in my head - Lash, that is - was calling a kimono. If it was, it wasn't like any of the kimonos I'd seen in the movies. This one was a white shirt with black trim and long flowing sleeves, and tied with a black bow across the waist just like the ones I'd seen, but that was where the similarities ended. The top was opened incredibly wide, almost falling off of her shoulders and revealing almost as much as her cleavage as her previous outfits had been showing off. It was actually more, as Lash oh-so-helpfully showed me with a quick overlay. I'm pretty sure the only reason her clothes didn't give up the ghost was because her breasts were literally chained down.

Yeah. Literally. There was an actual chain stretched across her chest holding the two sides of her shirt together. And because that just wasn't enough, there was another chain wrapped around her neck and trailing down her chest so that they ran down her cleavage before disappearing under the kimono top.

The bottom was better than the top, but only by sheer fact that nothing could beat those chains. The kimono bottom covered her until about midway down her thigh, at which point it parted and revealed most of her shapely legs. The only part of her new look I could call normal were the elegant-looking wooden sandals she was wearing on her feet.

I realized I was staring and shook my head, coming out of the shock I'd been in. Akitsu stood calmly while I had studied her, legs slightly parted, hands clasped behind her back, and chest pushed out. She didn't seem to mind my staring in the slightest, and if the experience I'd had with women was any indication she looked like she'd been enjoying the attention. "A-Akitsu?" I asked, but she just kept staring at me. "Um... Where's Musubi?" Yes. That was obviously the first question that I should be asking.

"I'm here!" I turned at Musubi's bubbly call. Then she stepped out into the living room and posed, bracing herself against the doorway. "Welcome back, Master!" she said with a huge smile as she stood there in a maid outfit that probably had less overall fabric than one of my shirts.

 _How interesting,_ Lash mused as I just stood there and stared, mind completely blank. The one-two combo left me stunned. _I'd heard of these 'maid cafes', but I never expected the uniform to be so potent._

'Grk,' was my intellectual contribution to the current proceedings.

 _You've managed to survive insane sorcerers, several different Outsiders, seeing the Faerie Queens at their most resplendent, and resist my own temptations for several years, and_ this _is what breaks you? I should have just appeared in a maid outfit from the start and saved myself the trouble._

I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, pinching the bridge of my nose, before letting it out. "Okay. Okay. I'm okay. The Dresden OS has restarted." Inwardly, I added, 'And for the record, Lash, you couldn't have turned me no matter what.' All I got back from her was a huff of irritation. As for the other two, Musubi was smiling with a bemused expression on her face, like she had no idea what I was so surprised by, and Akitsu was going about as usual.

"You both look lovely," I told the Sekirei. One of the many things dating Elaine had taught me was that when a girl stood in front of you after getting changed without saying anything, she expected you to be the one to tell her how beautiful she looked.

Musubi beamed. "Yukari said you would like these kinds of clothes! She bought us a few costumes."

"Of course she did. Moving on," I soldiered on, "going out like that might attract a lot of unwanted attention. If you want to get changed, that's fine."

Musubi tilted her head in thought. "Ah," Akitsu murmured. "I like this."

Oh, for... Fine. "Okay, that's fine," I said to her. "Musubi?"

"It's a little tight," she said slowly, bouncing up and down to make her point clear. "I think I like my gi better."

As she wandered off to go get changed, I called out to her, "Hey, Musubi? Where'd you get the MBI card you used to pay for all of this stuff?"

"It was in the box the Professor sent," Musubi called back from the other room. "When I showed it to Yukari, she asked who I was, but I remembered what you said and told her I was just a simple boxing girl."

"Sure, that works," I said. I mean, I doubt Yukari bought that, but as long as she didn't learn about the Sekirei Plan she could think whatever she wanted.

That was about the time that someone knocked on the door. "Please don't be the landlord, please don't be the landlord, please don't be the landlord," I muttered under my breath as I turned to open it up. I'm not sure how he'd react to seeing Akitsu's new look, but it probably wouldn't help my situation any. I opened the door. "Yukari? What's up?"

"I almost forgot!" she said, hands on her knees as she panted, trying to catch her breath. "Here, I got this for you!"

"For me?" I accepted the little box after she dug it out of her bag and peeked at what was inside. "Aw, Yukari," I said as I held up the gleaming metal bracelet. A little charm dangled from it. "Thanks."

"See?" She held up her arm, proudly displaying her own bracelet with a matching charm. Kinda dorky, but it works. "I have one too! Now, anytime you start to miss me, you can just look at the charm and it's like I'm there!"

I grinned. "Will do. Now, go on and get. I bet your friend is waiting for you."

Yukari grinned back and waved before turning and racing off again. Ah, the energy of youth - he says, at the rickety old age of twenty. Why, that's practically ancient.

"Harry?" I looked over my shoulder. Musubi and Akitsu were peering in a plastic bag she'd grabbed from somewhere. My guess was, it held all the stuff Yukari had purchased. "Yukari got these, but I'm not sure what they're supposed to be used for... Do you know?" the Sekirei asked.

"Lemme take a look..." I wandered over past Akitsu and Musubi and peered into the bag the two Sekirei were looking at. After a second, my eyebrows climbed straight up. "I... I see." I'm not a hundred percent sure _what_ I was looking at, but it certainly looked like something I'd find in Nicodemus's bedroom closet.

 _So this is what Yukari meant by supporting your lifestyle completely,_ Lash mused. _I seem to recognize some of those. Certain of my previous hosts tended to... experiment._

'I don't want to hear about it, Lash,' I declared immediately. I really, really, really didn't want to learn all about how she knew what those... things were. In the meantime, I was a wizard. I'd managed to survive Seeing the Faerie Queens at the height of their power. I could manage to survive seeing this.

To the other two Sekirei, I said, "Just... put them in the closet and _Akitsu what is that_?"

Akitsu had reached into the bag and picked up something that looked like a lot of black straps hooked together strangely. "Ah. I like this one."

"That one looks comfortable, Akitsu!" Musubi added.

...I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that. Yeah, that seems like the best option.

 _Well, there's one good thing about all this_ , Lash said.

'And what's that?' I sighed.

 _While we may not have materials for potioncraft,_ she said with a smile, _I doubt we shall run out of candles for rituals in the near future._

* * *

When I woke up the next morning without having another one of those Sekirei dreams, I was pretty relieved. Plus one mark to the Good Day Tally.

One psychic dream a week was already one too many, after all, and I needed my sleep. Sleep that the two Sekirei were getting, one on either side of me.

Shrugging off the covers, I slipped out of Musubi's grasp again. I really need to get that Sekirei a teddy bear, or sooner or later my ribs won't wake up with the rest of me.

"Ah... Good morning, Master," Akitsu said softly as I was rummaging through the closet to get dressed.

I turned to see her sitting up, her sleeping robe somehow staying around her upper body. I'm not sure how, since _I'm_ the one that's supposed to make physics cry in a corner, but I was grateful for it. "Sorry, Akitsu, did I wake you up?" I said. "My bad."

"No, Master. I do not mind," she said immediately. "Are... we going somewhere?"

I shrugged. "Just my morning run."

She nodded. "Ah... Again."

"It's kinda a routine thing," I said. She didn't reply, but just kept looking at me. I remembered how she looked after I made her stay behind yesterday, and I sighed. "Do you want to come with me today?"

It seemed like Musubi was the type of person that could sleep through an explosion, so now that Akitsu had something resembling clothes I think it'll be okay if she comes with me. So, when Akitsu nodded and murmured, "...Please..." I just nodded.

"Works for me, Akitsu. Go ahead and get changed and we'll go for a quick run."

Akitsu nodded, though it was hard to see. "I understand."

What was a _lot_ easier to see was how she stood up and started getting undressed right in front of me. "W-wait a few seconds," I said hurriedly before she could do more than undo the belt holding her robe shut. "I'm going to get changed in the bathroom, okay?"

"Understood, Master," Akitsu said, letting her hands fall to her sides.

Whew. Dodged that bullet. I turned and grabbed the closest exercise shirt and pair of pants in the closet and turned to hurry over to the bathroom, only to stop and sigh. "Akitsu. Would you mind waiting until I'm in the bathroom before you get undressed?"

Akitsu paused, the front of her robe open and revealing something that she must have bought with Yukari yesterday. "...Understood, Master," she said slowly.

I beat a strategic withdrawal, definitely not a hasty retreat, into the bathroom and got changed. That was... kinda weird. I tell her to hang on, she agrees, and then a few seconds later she goes right back to getting undressed. It's almost like she... 'Lash,' I asked, resisting the urge to facepalm, 'Akitsu took my request literally, didn't she?'

 _When you asked her to wait several seconds before getting undressed? I believe she did,_ Lash replied.

'Explains why I turned around to see her dressed like she was posing for a magazine cover,' I grumbled as I shrugged on the shirt. As I closed my eyes, the image of Akitsu flashed in my mind's eye. 'Lash, I know that's you.'

 _Perhaps, perhaps not._

'No, it's definitely you.' Lash just laughed mischievously. Stupid fallen angels.

After all that excitement, the run itself was surprisingly mundane. Akitsu managed to keep pace with me and made it look effortless. I'm definitely not jealous. At all. It wasn't like I'd had to work hard to get in shape or anything.

"Welcome back!" Musubi exclaimed as Akitsu and I entered the apartment. She was hard at work in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled great. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

"Morning, Musubi," I yawned. And to think, just a week ago, I'd be thrown by how domestic this situation was.

"Good morning, Harry, Akitsu!"

Now, I was just glad she was wearing clothes under her apron.

After a quick shower, we all sat down at my tiny little dining room table and dug into breakfast. Now, my tastes were pretty simple when it came to breakfast. When I didn't have to go fight the monster of the week, I was more a single cup of joe kind of guy. Maybe a cinnabun from Burger King.

Apparently, Sekirei tended to require more food than us mere mortals. I had a normal-sized plate of scrambled eggs and a few links of sausage sitting in front of me, while Musubi and Akitsu had a plate heaped with mounds of scrambled eggs and what looked like an entire pig. Each. What was more, they both managed to finish their plates before I was even half done with mine. It was kinda like eating pizza with the Alphas, only cleaner.

And let me just say, after seeing a bunch of college-age werewolves go to town on an extra-large meat lovers, I'll never look at a blender the same way again.

"...Master?" I blinked at Akitsu's quiet question.

"Huh? Something wrong?"

Musubi tilted her head. "You were just staring at nothing for a little bit. Are you feeling okay, Harry? Do you have a fever?"

I shook my head. "No," I said, "I was just distracted by something, nothing for you to worry about."

"Oh, okay," Musubi said. "Um, Harry?" she added. "We're out of food."

I looked down at the plates. Mine still had a few pieces of scrambled egg, but both Akitsu's and Musubi's plates had been licked clean. I must have been eating automatically. "That can't be right," I said. "Didn't you just go out and buy more?"

Musubi poked her fingertips together sheepishly. "I didn't think Akitsu and I would eat so much... This was supposed to last us the whole week, actually."

They ate a whole week's worth of food in under three days? That's... Actually, that's pretty close to eating pizza with the Alphas too. "It's okay, though," Musubi said, clenching her fists. "I'll go shopping after breakfast is finished."

"We'll go together," I said. Not that I don't trust her to go alone, buuuuut I don't exactly trust her to go alone and not get distracted. Regardless, Musubi seemed thrilled at my offer. "Akitsu? Wanna come too?"

The Sekirei stared at me, then nodded once. Good enough for me.

'Gear up for some action, Lash,' I said as we were getting ready to go out. 'Something tells me trouble's gonna find us.'

 _Are you expecting something to happen, Harry?_ Lash asked.

'Not anything in particular, but it's been quiet so far, Lash,' I replied, 'and at the risk of invoking Murphy, it's been too quiet.' Akitsu and Musubi were ready, so we headed out the door. 'Think about it. I've already run into three Sekirei, four if you count Kuu, and how many times have I started flinging spells seriously? There's no way the universe is letting that trend continue.'

 _You may have a point,_ Lash mused. _Very well. I shall be vigilant. Now, Harry, have noticed that you seem to be getting... looks from the other pedestrians?_

Yeah, so what? I got weird looks all the time. Comes with the territory of being six foot and a wizard, not necessarily in that order. Except something was different about these looks. People always started out looking a little bit to my left before giving me the stink eye.

I checked, and yep, Akitsu was standing just behind me and to my left. That must have been where they learned to stand in bodyguard school, since that's where I always saw Cujo stand whenever I had the misfortune of having to deal with Marcone. 'Three guesses as to why people are staring, Lash,' I said, 'and the first two don't count.'

Out loud, I said, "Hey, Akitsu?"

"...Yes?"

"Do you like that outfit? I mean, you don't have to wear it if you don't want to, I don't mind if we go out later to get you something else."

Akitsu didn't answer right away, and I looked over my shoulder to see her watching me like she always did. "Do you want... me to wear something different?" she asked finally.

I was about to answer when I remember her literal interpretation of the 'order' I'd given her this morning. If I say yes, she'll probably do something crazy like start stripping in the middle of the street. "Actually, never mind," I said instead. "That's fine. Just, let me know if you want something else to wear and we'll go shopping, okay?"

"Ah..." Akitsu replied, reaching up to adjust the chain around her neck. "I like this," she said.

Of course she does. Why can't I ever meet a nice super powered girl that likes warm turtleneck sweaters?

Grousing aside, the public scrutiny really wasn't that much different than what I used to deal with back in Chicago. That meant it was pretty easy to ignore the looks, even when they were paired with middle-aged women glancing over their shoulders and whispering at each other in the supermarket. Nothing to see here, just a girl dressed in a karate gi pushing a shopping cart filled with enough food for a small army, don't mind us.

Come to think of it, Musubi's only picked out enough to feed a small army. Maybe we should keep going until we have enough for a large army.

"Harry, Harry!" Musubi exclaimed, waving her hand from the end of the aisle. "We're going to have stew for dinner tonight!"

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.

She smiled. "Okay, I'll go get the ingredients for it, then."

As she ran off, I stared at the cart that was already overfilled. That much food, and we still didn't have enough stuff for dinner? These girls must -

 _HELP ME, BIG BROTHER!_

Mind magic, as a general rule, was something that the White Council hated. It was dangerous stuff, and if you weren't careful you could end up dead or even worse. Events back during my time in Chicago, though, had escalated and they'd been forced to start training us how to actually defend against psychic attacks.

See, mind magic was more about imagination and willpower than any tangible outcome like my fire or force. It was sneaky, forcing you to pay attention to ideas that your enemy wanted you to think about. They could be small things like doubt or nervousness, or they could be whole thoughts like Darth Vader in his TIE fighter. Worse still, in real battle that thought could easily be 'Stop fighting and die' or stuff like that. So I'd worked hard with Molly to improve.

My mind was a natural fortress, a big badass castle that any invaders needed to break through before they could conquer me, and I'd been told that would take a prolonged campaign to break through everything. After Lash woke back up, my defenses had only gotten tougher and nastier once she'd added her personal touches.

If I was actually receiving a thought this clear, that meant that the message made it through my castle walls _and_ Lash's own protection in record time. Unless the enemy was stupidly powerful, that meant it was a friendly message.

 _Please, help me! They're trying to hurt me!_

Didn't mean it didn't hurt like a bitch. It was like someone turned the volume up really, really high and then put on a record of Sousa's Greatest Hits in my brain.

When the headache died down from blinding to just obnoxiously painful, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "Harry!" Musubi exclaimed, face close to mine. I looked away before our eyes met. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I grunted, pushing myself to my feet and wincing as my knees complained. When did I hit the floor? Oh, right, probably when the message came through. 'Lash, you there?'

 _You were right, my host,_ she said. _It seems our days of leisure have come to a close for the moment. The Sekirei child needs your help._

'I kinda got that,' I said. 'It was Kuu?'

 _The person sending the cry for help matched the one who sent the dream several mornings ago,_ she replied.

I paused. 'Wait, I have Caller ID for telepathy? Neat.'

"Harry?" Musubi asked, still looking concerned. "Is your head okay?"

"Just talking to my imaginary friend," I told her glibly. "It's a wizard thing. But we have to go, now."

Musubi tilted her head. "Why?"

"Because Kuu needs my help," I said. "She just sent me a message. I don't know what's going on, but I need to go find her."

The karate Sekirei clenched her fists. "Okay," she said. "Let's go!"

"Akitsu," I said, turning to look for the other Sekirei. "Hey, Akitsu," I said when I spotted her. She was staring at me like she expected me to disappear or something. "Ready to go?"

She seemed to shift slightly. "Master... Are you under attack?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I just had some calibration issues." I paused as I reviewed my word choice, Lash snickering in the back of my head. "We have to go. It's time for us to fight."

Akitsu nodded once, bowing her head. "Yes, Master."

"You can call me Harry, Akitsu," I told her as we abandoned our cart and walked out of the shopping center. "I don't mind. No need for the whole Master thing."

"Ah." Akitsu blinked. "Yes, Master Harry."

I studied her for a second, but her constant staring revealed nothing. 'Lash,' I asked my translator, 'are you screwing with me?'

 _No, my host,_ Lash said, sounding entirely too amused by this. _She seems rather devoted to you._

'What gave it away?' I asked dryly.

"Where are we going, Harry?" Musubi asked me as we stood outside the supermarket while I was getting my bearings.

"Gimme a second," I muttered, focusing. I hadn't done this before, so it might not work, but I pulled at the feeling of the bonds formed between me and the Sekirei. They answered my tugging eagerly, springing to attention, and I turned north, towards the botanical garden. The strongest bond, the one reminding me of animal strength, was closest - that was Musubi. The other two, the one that felt like fire and ashes and the one that felt like new life, were pointed in the same direction.

I tried not to break into a run as we left the supermarket, but it was a near thing. Every instinct in me was urging me to run north, to where Kuu was and save her from the enemies that were threatening her. My instincts as a father, my instincts as a wizard, and the predatory instincts awakened by the mantle of the Winter Knight; all of them were, for once, in agreement. What I wouldn't give for my staff, or my blasting rod, or any of my rings right now. The bracelet Yukari gave me was hanging on my wrist, but I hadn't had time to start any work on making it into my new shield bracelet yet. For now, it was just plain metal.

"Where are we going?" Musubi asked me.

"To the botanical gardens," I told her and Akitsu. "And we're probably going to rumble. So be prepared." A part of my mind not occupied by trying to figure out what was going on started singing a song about lions and hyenas.

What can I say? Disney was pretty great, even if I couldn't watch the movies after I hit magic puberty.

"Yes, Harry!" Musubi chirped, the eagerness and excitement back in her voice.

"Yes, Master Harry," Akitsu said.

It took a little bit to get to the forest, but I knew we were getting close when the aura of power swelled. There were more than two or three Sekirei nearby, and it was a little stifling.

Power has presence. That was something I'd learned a long time ago, and it'd been hammered home every time I tangled with something with enough power to swat me like a fly without thinking twice. And that presence was here, surrounding the gardens. There were Sekirei nearby, at least five and maybe more.

The numbers didn't matter. Kuu needed my help.

I looked around and frowned. This time of day, the streets should be filled with people going back and forth - but the sidewalks were empty, evacuated under the orders of MBI if the local loudspeakers were to be believed. That was a little reassuring - Minaka was keeping his word about keeping innocents safe, at least. That was something, at least, though he was probably just doing it to keep the Sekirei secret. Well, whatever the reason, I was grateful for it.

"So what do we do now, Harry?" Musubi asked, looking up at me. She had her fists clenched and was hopping up and down excitedly, and I had to remind myself that this cute shrine maiden girl wasn't human. She was a battle-hungry Sekirei.

But she was on my side for now. And Musubi and Akitsu were definitely not anywhere near as bad as Nicodemus or Deidre. I'd worked with those two in the past, and I'd work with Musubi and Akitsu now. "Right now, we need to find a way in that's not guarded by a lot of men with guns." Because while I may have enchanted my coat, it didn't offer the same protection a duster did and I happened to enjoy not having bullet holes in me. "Let's go snoop around for a bit and see if they've conveniently labeled a back way in."

Hey, believe it or not it happened once. There was this pair of really stupid trolls that liked getting takeout. I don't think they ever tipped the delivery guys, though.

We circled to the left, making sure to stick to alleys and out of the sight of the MBI guards. I might be a wizard, but right now I was a wizard without any of my tools of the trade; without any of my toys, I was limited mainly to the rough stuff. I could still fling fire and force and wind, but my fine control was shot until I had my staff.

In other words, while I could still smash things good, I couldn't be sure I wouldn't accidentally kill any human guards. Come to think of it, I have no idea how in the world I managed to pull off that little eavesdropping spell earlier.

So, for now, the best practice was to avoid needing to call on my magic unless I was tangling with a Sekirei. And that meant the alleys were my best friends right now. Even if they were dirty and disgusting and I'm pretty sure I saw a rat giving me the stink eye. Despite getting dirty looks from the local fauna, though, it did let the three of us get a sense of the MBI presence around the botanical garden.

"I need a better view," I muttered as I was forced to duck back into the alley when one of the boys in black glanced my way. "Preferably one that won't get me shot." There was still that matter of the MBI people with guns. How were we supposed to...?

My gaze drifted towards the rooftops and I got an idea.

I've always wanted to try hopping rooftops. The comic books make it look fun, what can I say?

What they didn't mention was the best way to get onto the rooftops to begin with. Back in Chicago, there would have been fire escapes in every alley, but in this alley I couldn't see a single one. It was almost ridiculous, really. My aeromancy skills were sadly lacking in realms that weren't blasting bad guys, so magical flight was out too. If only I could jump up to the roof, like those twins had.

Wait. "Musubi," I said slowly, "do you think you could carry me with you if you jumped up to the roof?"

"I think so," she said slowly before reaching out and taking my hand.

"Um, wait, Musu-!" My panicked yelp trailed off into a manly grunt that definitely wasn't a cry of pain as the shrine maiden Sekirei jumped, nearly tearing my arm out of its socket as she dragged me along. I might be used to pain, but I'm not used to having my shoulder dislocated. Or, well, I kinda am, I just don't like it. As for Musubi, she wasn't affected by my weight in the slightest as she jumped straight up six stories. It was nice to have confirmation that Sekirei were all around stronger than humans, even if it had been my operating assumption all along.

We landed safely on the roof, but I didn't stick the landing and fell on my butt. "Ow... Musubi, next time, just pick me up," I sighed, rotating my shoulder. It doesn't feel like anything's out of place, so we're all good. Behind me, Akitsu landed on the roof as she cleared the edge easily and stood ready, her head swiveling. I guess she was looking for enemies, and when she didn't find any she went back to what I was starting to recognize as a ready for combat pose. She was still, with her head slightly bowed and her eyes straight ahead, slightly unfocused.

"Sorry, Harry," Musubi said, looking adorably upset. "I wasn't thinking. I'm still working on modesty, but common sense is next!" Seriously, these girls must have been raised in a lab or something.

"It's... it's fine. No harm no foul, right?" I gave her a thumbs up with my right arm just to prove the point. Akitsu peered at me, then nodded once. "Just be careful next time."

"I will," Musubi said, immediately switching gears and nodding vigorously. "Don't worry, Harry."

I grinned. "Sounds like a plan. Now, let's keep moving. Akitsu, mind giving me a lift?"

The Winter Sekirei stepped forward and waited. I put my arm around her shoulders. It was a little awkward, with how close I was to her, but it was better than Musubi yanking my arm off, or worse still being carried in her arms. "Akitsu, ready?" She nodded. "Okay, just... hold on to my waist, and I'll hold on to your shoulder while you jump." This should work better. She hesitated for a second before her arm slipped around my waist.

This time, when Akitsu jumped across the gap, I could enjoy it without my arm feeling like it was being pulled out of its socket. Roof hopping was as fun as I'd expected it to be - though it did irk me a little bit that I wasn't able to do it on my own. I just put up with it and tried to ignore how soft Akitsu's side was against my own. I was mildly successful.

We were about a quarter of the way around the gardens when a loud explosion rang out, shattering the stillness of the desolate streets. Because I can't ever have a nice, peaceful stakeout; no, everything has to blow up or get set on fire or both. "We need to get over there now," I said. I had a bad feeling.

'What do you think, Lash?' I asked as we traveled back towards the twisting pillar of smoke. 'Is there any small chance this _isn't_ bad news?'

 _It's possible,_ she allowed after a moment. _But, as we both know, highly unlikely._

'Yeah.' Things always got complicated when I got involved. At least this time I knew it wasn't my fault. I wasn't anywhere near that explosion, I swear.

As we got closer to the scene of the crime, an acrid smell reached me and I clenched my fist. Smell was arguably one of our most important senses. It was so tightly linked to memory that a familiar smell could bring us back to good home cooking. We could tell if something was rotting just by the sickly-sweet stench in the air, and scent was an integral part of potion-making. No matter what it was, good or bad, smells tended to stick with us and stick in our memory.

I recognized what I was smelling. It was the same thing I smelled when I blew up the gas station way back when. The stench of burning gasoline.

Whoever had done this wasn't worried about the MBI personnel, I decided after a few seconds' look at the crime scene. The armored cars I'd seen earlier had been flung around like toys, burning in the late afternoon light. Whoever caused the devastation was only interested in getting straight through to the garden; the way the cars were all flung to the side was evidence enough of that. But that heavy, pungent smell told me more than I wanted to know.

It had to have been pure luck that there didn't seem to be any casualties among the MBI personnel. Whoever did this, they didn't care about who got hurt.

And that made me mad.

"Wow!" Musubi gasped, looking around at the carnage and clenching her fists excitedly. "They must be strong! Are we going to fight them, Harry? Please?"

"Don't worry about that," I growled, my fists shaking. "We will," I promised her.

"Dresden."

I didn't jump in surprise, but that was because I already knew Kagari was there, hidden by the smoke. It would have been hard for me not to notice his presence - his aura was practically blazing. Akitsu must not have expected him, however, because in a heartbeat she was in front of me, her hand raised toward him. "Kagari," I nodded toward him, resting a hand on Akitsu's arm. She looked at me, then nodded and stepped back to her usual position.

"What are you doing here?" Kagari asked, stepping out of the smoke and stopping in front of us. He was dressed in a long flowing black coat, the same thing that I'd seen him wearing when I saw him in the alley, along with black pants, shoes, and gloves. This time, though, he was also wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face up to his nose. "Are you here because of Minaka?"

"Actually, I was here to ask you where you got the coat," I said glibly. "I've been looking for one just like it and I just can't seem to find someplace that sells them."

Kagari glared at me. "Don't play dumb. I know you received the text message talking about the Green Girl! Why else would you be here?"

I blinked at him. "I have no idea what you're..." I trailed off and rubbed at my forehead. "Of course." Even after four weeks, I still left the house without making sure my phone was on me. That's it - I'm checking my pockets every time I leave the house from now on. Enough of this no phone crap.

"I forgot my phone at home," I told Kagari, spreading my arms out in the universal 'what can you do' gesture. I'm blaming today on the chaos caused by two very attractive Sekirei with no nudity taboos. "So I really have no idea what you're taking about. And, quite frankly, I don't care."

"Are we going to fight, Harry?" Musubi interrupted, clenching her fists excitedly.

"I don't know, Musubi," I answered, still eyeing Kagari. "Are we?" I aimed the question towards him.

Kagari stiffened. "I'm not going to let you through."

"Maybe I wasn't very clear," I growled. "Kuu asked me for my help, and I'm going to give it to her. Now, I'm either going to go past you, or through you. Your choice." I would have been diplomatic, but I was never any good at that stuff. Besides... I _had_ to get through. Something inside me was tugging at me towards Kuu.

"She asked you for help? What are you talking about? I've been here all day trying to stop every Ashikabi in the city from swarming the forest, and I didn't see anything like that at all."

"Well duh," I snorted. "Wizard, remember? She contacted me psychically." My, and wasn't _that_ a sentence I didn't think I'd ever say?

Kagari took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Psychically, huh? Did you have any visions? Dreams, like the one you had before?"

"I had one a few nights ago... I'd say she's reacting to me, but I thought that only happened after we'd touched?"

Kagari shook his head. "All Sekirei have some psychic potential, but the Green Girl has more than just a little bit. It's possible she's decided she wants you to be her Ashikabi, and now she's trying to draw you in."

I nodded. "Feels that way. So you think she's already reacting to me because she's got a little bit more oomph when it comes to reacting?"

"It could be fear, too. Number one hundred and eight was on a day trip from the lab when she and her tuner were attacked by an Ashikabi and his Sekirei. He injured the tuner and attempted to wing Kusano, but she created... this," he said, gesturing to the foliage behind us, "and hid inside. Instead of trying to help, that bastard Minaka just poured fuel on the fire."

I nodded. There was definitely history there, given that Kagari's expression when he talked about Minaka was the kind of expression usually reserved for finding a particularly stinky piece of dog crap on your shoe, but that wasn't the point. "She's asking for my help, Kagari. I can't just let her get hurt."

Kagari looked at me then looked away quickly, rubbing at his chest absently. "I'm the Guardian of Sekirei. It's my job to protect the unwinged birds. But, if she's reacting to you..." He sighed. "I promised... But you're her best bet. Go inside. I won't stop you."

He stepped aside grudgingly and I nodded my thanks before heading inside, Musubi and Akitsu following close behind me. "Um, excuse me," Musubi said to Kagari as she passed. "I hope your cold gets better!"

Kagari blinked at her. "My what?"

"Because you're wearing a mask," the cheerful ditz continued. "Please be careful!"

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up. "You have a... cold...?"

"That's not it," Kagari snapped. "I wear this so people don't recognize me. And Dresden, I only use Kagari around people that don't know about the Sekirei Plan or when I'm working. I'd prefer it if you called me Homura. That's my real name."

I nodded. Names were important, after all. "Sure thing, Homura. Oh, by the way, one more thing?"

He looked at me warily. "What?"

"When this is all over, seriously, could you tell me where you got the coat?"

Hey, fashion was important, too.

"I... Yes, fine..." Homura shook his head and his face got serious. "I'll stay here and stop anyone else from coming through. Can I trust you to take care of the ones already inside?"

"Don't worry," I said. "They won't be a problem." I started to pass through the gates - damaged and twisted by whatever Sekirei managed to smash their way through.

"Wait."

"It's too late to stop us from going in, you already agreed, no take-backs," I said. Looking back, he didn't seem amused for some reason. "What now?"

Homura was staring at Akitsu. "That Scrapped Number. Why do you have it with you?"

"Akitsu," I said, stressing her name, "asked me to be her Ashikabi and I agreed. Don't get your mask in a twist about it."

I didn't know what his beef with Akitsu was, but it could wait until later. He'd wasted enough of my time already, and every second spent out here was another second whoever had broken through was getting closer to Kuu.

"That's... whatever," he sighed. "I'll let it go for now, but we need to talk about this later, Dresden. It's important."

"Fine by me." I turned, missing the dramatic whooshing of my duster. "Musubi, Akitsu, let's go."

I'm coming, Kuu. Just hang on until I get there.

* * *

 **Alright! We're closing in on Kuu time, which is good time because Kuu is a sweetheart. Once you get past the whole 'alien that can basically control growth of any living creature, but mostly plants' thing. And the biting.**

 **I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to handle Yukari's character, so barring complaints about her over-the-top nature how'd I do? I'm trying to make sure I keep the characters true to who they are while also making Harry more than just a replacement for Minato in canon, so stuff like that is good. Does Yukari's character make sense, I guess is what I'm asking. As for the others, I'm pretty happy with Musubi so far – cheerful and naïve about the world, but not stupid – and Homura – driven to the edge by all the shit going on. Akitsu is the only one I'm basically making up from whole cloth aside from her total devotion to her master because she's terrified of screwing up and being abandoned again.**

 **I'm trying to match the style of the Dresden Files writing as best I can, while also blending in Sekirei. Not fun, but I think most of the lines worked? Next chapter, though, involves witty banter. I'm somewhat concerned because Dresden's sense of humor is one that I (very clearly… *sadface*) struggle to replicate, and witty banter is somewhat out of my wheelhouse. Like, several states away out of my wheelhouse. I will give it a shot, so here's hoping, right?**

 **Remember, constructive criticism and compliments are always welcome; if you want to stop reading, though, go right ahead and don't bother letting me know. If you give reasons for why you're leaving, that's cool - I want to know what I've screwed up, in your opinion - but simply stating that you're leaving doesn't help anyone. I really don't care and the reviews that basically read 'Fuck you your writing sucks now' really aren't helpful to anyone and, in fact, make it just that little bit harder for me to muster up the urge to write this story.**

 **As a PSA: I won't ever abandon a story. Won't happen. I hate it when people just give up halfway through and I refuse to let that happen to my stories as I also hate hypocrites. THAT BEING SAID. One, this story is fighting me tooth and nail, so I'm practically forcing every word onto the page; two, I** _ **do**_ **have other commitments, which don't involve writing every day; three, I want this story to be good and so I'm taking my time. What does that mean? This story will not ever be canceled, abandoned, or dropped. I've got five chapters written, it's too late to back out now. What will happen, though, is that the chapters will be coming out slowly. Expect three or four a year at most.**

 **Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed. I'm writing this mainly for me, but I'm glad you are all enjoying this too.**


	6. Sixth Spell

**The Sixth Spell**

* * *

As we moved through the forest, I couldn't help but feel a little bit upset.

I mean, c'mon. Every time I went through the Nevernever, even with my mother's pendant I had to take my time and be careful. Since everything and its mother-type wanted to eat me, one wrong step and it was bye-bye Dresden. Yeah, even the trees. Hell's bells, _especially_ the trees, on some paths.

And now, this place. It looked amazing, and there was an aura of peacefulness about the Forest that the Nevernever, in all its unearthly beauty, just didn't have. Plus, this Forest got bonus points for _not_ actively trying to kill me. I'd love to just take my time, maybe have a picnic out here, and I was running through this place like Speedy Gonzales.

Life had a sick sense of humor, sometimes.

I really did wish I could take my time going through the Forest. To the normal, non-wizardly eye, it was just a regular old rainforest, smack dab in the middle of town. Which, granted, was bizarre enough on its own. But I doubted anybody going through here could feel the sheer life force flowing through the foliage. It had grown in a night, and I could still feel the energy that had been used. The last time I was going through a jungle, I was on my way to rescue my daughter from the Red Court. This time, I was on my way to rescue a young Sekirei from whoever was after her.

I couldn't help but draw the parallels.

This time, though, was going to be different. I was going to _make_ it different.

As I wandered through the forest, there really wasn't all that much to guide me in any particular direction. When I'd started, it had been easy to just head straight forward, away from the wreckage of the gate and MBI trucks. After they disappeared, and all I could see when I looked back was trees, the only thing I had to guide me was the orange light of the setting sun and my own intuition.

Some animals have innate senses of direction. Homing pigeons were probably the most famous example, but you hear stories about cats and dogs getting lost, and then showing up on the doorstep two months later or so, having wandered around and somehow finding their way back. Migratory birds had to know how to go north and south, somehow.

Humans, however, weren't exactly known for our stellar species-wide navigating skills. I mean, I was born in raised in the concrete jungle. This _real_ jungle wasn't my home turf. I wasn't a Boy Scout or anything, so I shouldn't have been able to know which way was north, let alone pick my way through the Jungle.

That was the weird part, though. It was like I just knew which way to go to get to where Kuu was hiding. My best guess was that Kuu was feeding me information and somehow telling me which way to go through the connection we have. If I could look without being blinded, I'd use the connection itself to find her, but that wasn't possible with the way the Jungle glowed with energy. I just had to rely on the inner GPS and hope it was leading me to Kuu.

I picked my way through the brush, Musubi and Akitsu following behind me. The flora looked like it wouldn't be out of place in the Yucatan jungle I'd run through as a dog. At least this time my group and I were on two legs and not four, which was a definite improvement. The trees and bushes around me were thrumming with energy, to the point that I could almost see one of the trees in front of me glowing.

Wait. The tree actually was glowing.

I stopped, but didn't draw on my will. "Master Harry?" Akitsu said. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing," I said absently. "Just... hang on a second."

The glow resolved into the form of a young girl with long blonde hair wearing a white sundress. She had both hands raised, covering her lower face shyly. "Hey there, Kuu," I said gently. "Are you doing okay?"

Kuu smiled a little bit, looking adorable. Silently, she pointed to right, in the direction we were heading. The trees seemed to shift around a little bit, and I saw a glimmer of glowing light peeking through the cracks. We had to be close.

"Just hang on tight," I promised the young girl's apparition. I knew it wasn't the real Kuu, but if she could guide me to where she was hidden, she might be able to hear my words. Any small amount of reassurance I could give the tiny girl was worth it. "I'll be there soon."

"Um, Harry?" I looked over at Musubi, but she was just frowning in confusion. "Who are you talking to?"

I looked back to Kuu, but the little girl had vanished. "Our tour guide," I said. "If you look on the left, you'll see trees. And if you look on the right, you'll see more trees. Thrilling, I know."

Musubi squirmed a little bit, and I waited for her to get around to her question. "When are we going to fight?" she blurted out. "There're supposed to be enemies here, right?"

"Honestly," I said, stepping over a tree root and heading around a tree, "I'd prefer if we didn't run into anyone. A fight in this place could get messy."

"My thoughts exactly."

I narrowed my eyes as the three of us entered a small almost-clearing. "Yo," a man said casually, raising a hand in greeting from where he stood leaning against a tree. "You're an Ashikabi, right? Or are those Sekirei behind you for some other reason?"

"I didn't think there was going to be a welcoming party," I said casually, clenching my fist. "I'm guessing you're an Ashikabi too?" There was a weird sense of pressure coming from that guy, but not in the magical sense. Kinda like the sort of pressure you get when there's one too many people in a room; a little weird, but not uncomfortable, strictly speaking.

The scruffy-looking man's craggy face split into a grin and he nodded his head. Two women stepped out from a few trees, moving and standing next to him, one on each side. "The name's Kaoru Seo," he said, grinning like a loon as he slung his arms around the very familiar Sekirei. "And these are my girls, Hikari and Hibiki."

"We've met a few times," I said. Looked like Hikari was the one in purple, and Hibiki the one in pink. The only other way to determine which twin was which, as far as I could tell, was that Hikari had bigger breasts.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said. Then he started casually groping Hikari, squeezing her breast with one hand.

"Seo!" she squawked, face red. "Where are you touching?!"

"They didn't know you'd winged number Eighty-eight the second time they ran into each other," Seo continued, heedless of the way Hikari was shaking with anger. "Looks like you've got two now, though you haven't winged the other one yet, am I right?"

I was about to answer when Hikari finally had enough of Seo's manhandling. "Argh!" she shouted before letting loose with a blast of electricity. Seo toppled over as the current coursed through him, letting out a weak cough before picking himself up and brushing off the thin layer of dark soot.

"Never mind," he said. "So, tell me... You're an Ashikabi, aren't'cha? Are you here for the Green Girl?" His tone was casual, but the set of his shoulders told me he was anything but. He was spoiling for a fight.

"The Green Girl?" My tone was just as casual as his was. "If you're talking about Kuu, then yeah." I lowered my chin and clenched a fist. "I'm not going to let anyone take her. Not you, not anyone, got it?"

 _And here we see your charming personality at work once again, my host._

'Making friends isn't on my to-do list right now,' I reminded her. 'Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion I know who was responsible for the wreckage outside.' If Seo really did give the Thundercat twins the order to blow up the gates, putting all those MBI troopers in danger, then I didn't really care if he got mad.

"Oh?" Seo smirked, rubbing at his stubble with one hand thoughtfully. "You're making a cool-looking face for some reason, young man," he said. "I kinda like it. But..." He sighed. "I can't just go lettin' ya grab the Green Girl, so looks like this is far as you go! Hikari, Hibiki!"

The two lightning Sekirei clasped hands and pointed at me and the girls. "About time! Now we can fight for real and take out that busty Sekirei!" Hikari grinned.

I raised a hand as electricity crackled around their bodies. " _Defendarius fulmen_!" I snapped, channeling my will. The bolt of lightning struck my shield and split apart, scattering harmlessly among the trees behind me. "Musubi, Akitsu, you think you can handle these two?" I asked them. "I need to find Kuu."

"Yes!" Musubi cheered, clenching her fists. "Leave it to us! Let's go, Akitsu!"

I grinned and turned, running deeper through the Jungle, following the tugging that seemed to be leading me towards the center of the forest. The last thing I saw, before trees filled my vision, was Musubi jumping forward as Akitsu raised a hand. Hikari and Hibiki were facing down both of the Sekirei, hands clasped. Even after I couldn't see the fight, I could still hear the fighting and occasional cracks of lightning echo through the forest.

 _My host, why did you ask both Sekirei to fight?_ Lash asked me. _You know as well as I that Akitsu could have fought both Hikari and Hibiki by herself. Musubi was not, strictly speaking, necessary._

I nodded. "I know," I answered out loud. Alone, Akitsu could have probably matched the twins blow for blow. She was incredibly powerful, if the Winter I'd felt in her was any indication. I was certain that it was at least as powerful as the Winter given to me by the Winter's Mantle. However, I'd asked both Sekirei to fight for a reason.

Lightning was one of the powers in the world, a truly destructive force of nature. It could be used to supercharge spells, and I'd seen thunderstorms used to power some nasty spells. It was something us humans had subconsciously learned to fear, like snakes and the dark, which was why we always flinched a little bit when lightning cracked and thunder boomed across the sky.

It was incredibly hard to harness the element in spells, and I'd never really figured out the trick. It seemed the twins had it down pat, though, and while both Sekirei were powerful on their own they seemed to get even more powerful when fighting together. That lightning bolt I'd deflected earlier had been even stronger than the one I'd blocked the first time they showed up.

There was no way Musubi could fight them on her own. It wasn't anything against the Sekirei, but it would be a two-on-one fight where the two had access to a tank and Musubi was still back in the Stone Ages. There was just no way her fists could compete with the raw elemental forces of destruction they could call down what looked like at will. And while Akitsu _could_ have taken them on by herself, I wanted to make sure Seo and the twins wouldn't be trying to attack me from behind.

Plus, there was less chance of either Musubi or Akitsu getting hurt this way.

* * *

I stumbled my way through the forest, following a path I could barely see. Despite the denseness of the foliage, though, I never felt like I was heading towards a dead end, or anything like that. It probably had something to do with the way the forest seemed to open up in front of me as I took a step, even as it closed up behind me after I stepped through the new opening.

Even if I wasn't entirely sure where to go, I wasn't lost. If I stopped and looked around for a few seconds, motion would catch my eye, and when I looked over I'd see the hem of a white sundress disappear behind a tree, or see a few locks of blonde hair vanish in the distance.

None of this was entirely new to me, of course. The Nevernever was as vast as it was dangerous; even with my mom's pendant, I had to keep on my guard when traversing it. Something like this, where I could just barely catch a glimpse of a fleeing figure, or follow a path that seemed to be appearing in front of me? Kiddy games for the Nevernever forests.

But this jungle didn't feel like the Nevernever forests. In those, there was always a feeling of being watched, like someone was just waiting for me to screw up and break the rules so that they could justify eating me or worse.

This one? It felt warm and welcoming, like I was _supposed_ to be here. Like every tree branch was waving hello.

The glow from the heart of the jungle that I was chasing got brighter with every step, until it was practically blinding. Then, as I stepped around a bush, I knew I was at the center of the forest. A blue glow coming from pretty much everywhere illuminated the area, and I approached the small hollow formed by the tangled roots of a bunch of trees.

I stood there for a second, looking around. This was it, the heart of the jungle. I remembered this place from my dream of Kuu.

"Who's there?" a soft voice called out.

I took a few steps forward, twigs cracking under my feet, and kneeled down. A small figure poked around the corner warily, peeking out from a bend in the grove. "Hey, Kuu," I said gently, smiling at the little blonde girl. "I've been looking for you."

The Sekirei girl gasped, staring at me. "...Big brother?" she asked hesitantly.

"That's me, kid. Ready to get on out of here?" I didn't want to scare Kuu by mentioning it, but I had the strangest feeling we were on a pretty strict time limit here.

Kuu stepped out of her hiding spot entirely, still staring at me. "You don't... look like Kuu's big brother," she said, fists held up protectively near her chin. "But you feel familiar..."

What...? Oh, right, we'd met in the dream, which meant I looked like the real me then. "I'm in disguise," I told her, grinning. Softly, I muttered the spell to trigger my illusion; the veil settled over me, and I finally looked like my old self again. "Us wizards have to keep things on the down-low," I said, winking before letting the veil drop.

 _Shame on you, telling such a bald lie to a little girl like that._

'Yeah, yeah, whatever, Lash. It worked, didn't it?'

And it had. Kuu's face lit up as she ran towards me, her smile eye-wateringly bright. "Big brother!" she cheered, throwing her arms out and leaping towards me.

"Oof!" I caught the kid-shaped missile and chuckled. "My name's Harry Dresden," I told her. "It's nice to finally meet you, Kusano."

"So this is where you were hiding!"

I stiffened, and carefully let Kuu down onto the ground. Then I turned to look for the source of the sweetly arrogant voice. I saw the figure standing at the edge of the clearing and immediately realized that she was another Sekirei.

There were a few ways I could tell. First, she was stupidly pretty, and I hadn't seen a Sekirei yet that couldn't put most supermodels to shame. Second, I could _feel_ the pressure of her inhuman power from here. It was about on par with Musubi, but still paled in the face of Karasuba and Akitsu.

And, oh yeah, the huge scythe she was holding. That was a good clue, too.

The weird thing was, of all the Sekirei I'd seen so far, besides the scythe she was dressed normally enough. If I passed her on the street, I probably wouldn't think twice about the black gown and thigh-high stockings she was wearing.

"You there," she said to me, and I pointed a finger at myself questioningly. "Yeah, you! Get away from the Sekirei girl, loser, or I'll cut you to pieces! She belongs to my master, not you."

Kuu huddled behind me, clutching at my pant leg. I rested a hand on her head, and grinned when she looked up. "Don't worry," I told her. "I won't go anywhere."

"I said-"

"So hey," I called out towards the scythe Sekirei, cutting into her next shout. "What should I call you? I mean, Little Red Reaper Hood doesn't work all that well, since you're not wearing red. Or a hood."

She glowered at me, a muscle in her forehead twitching. "My name is Yomi! I'll make you remember that!"

"Hmm," I hummed thoughtfully, "maybe Barbie Reaper? Good brand potential, although it doesn't really flow off the tongue."

Yomi was shaking with what I was pretty sure was anger, her fists clenched tightly around her scythe's pole. Seriously, she was really easy to wind up. If the rest of the Sekirei were like this, my finely-tuned wit might get rusty from not ever meeting a challenge. "You... you..."

"Yeah, me," I said bluntly. "Listen, I don't care who the heck your master thinks he is, but Kusano chose me to be her Ashikabi. So back off before we have to throw down."

"You? You're 108's Ashikabi?" she scoffed. "You're just some scruffy, stupid-looking loser. Someone like you can't possibly measure up to Master Mikogami!"

I rolled my eyes. That Mikogami guy again? He sure is sticking his nose in things he should leave alone. "Even if Kuu hadn't chosen me, I wouldn't let her go off with someone like you. Tell your master to keep his grubby paws away from Sekirei that aren't reacting to him."

"How dare you insult my master!" Yomi shouted at me, cheeks red. "If you won't get out of my way, I'll _make_ you move!"

She lunged forward, scythe raised, and the time for prefight banter was over.

Yomi struck, her scythe blade aimed for my chest, and I slammed will into my shield spell. The blade bounced off of the wall of force, almost rebounding straight into Yomi's face. I turned to Kuu, ignoring Yomi for now, and knelt down. "Go on and hide," I told her, feeling Yomi pound away at my shield. "I just need to take care of her real quick, and then we can leave, okay?"

Kuu nodded, eyes wide, and scurried off to find a place to hide. Sighing and stretching, I pushed myself to my feet. "What the hell?!" Yomi shrieked. "What's going on? Why can't I hit you?"

"Magic," I said, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck. My shield wasn't perfect, but it was powerful. "Puny attacks from a glorified farming implement, well, that just ain't gonna cut it."

"Don't insult my Death Scythe!" she yelled at me.

"Wait, you named it 'Death Scythe'?" I mocked. "Were you in your edgy teenager phase or something?"

"Raaaagh!" she screeched, rearing back to swing at me.

I had a few options, but they were limited. My most powerful spells were fire-based, and that wasn't going to fly in a jungle. I needed to get Kuu out, not burn the forest down. " _Ventus_!" I called, dropping my shield as I thrust my hand towards Yomi.

The wind answered my call and howled towards her, the column of air slamming into Yomi and knocking her back. She coughed, sliding to a halt, and glared at me. "What was _that_?! Are you a Sekirei?"

"Nope," I said, wiggling my fingers in the air at her. "Hundred percent human, right here. But I _am_ a wizard."

"Rrr... Screw this!" Yomi growled.

She swung her scythe, but it was miles away from me, so I grinned and prepared to send a blast of force at her-

-and then I just barely saw the ripple of air before the vacuum wave slammed into me, slicing at my clothes. I managed to get my arms up in time, covering my chest, but my pant legs were a lost cause.

Harry, you idiot. Serves you right for underestimating your opponent in a fight. Yomi might be easy to rile up, but she was still a Sekirei, with all the benefits that implied. I should have expected some weird trick, but the Death Scythe thing had captured my attention.

I lowered my arms and saw Yomi right in front of me, already swinging her scythe at my ribs. " _Defen_ -" I tried to get out, but she was too fast.

The scythe slammed into my ribs, knocking me to the side, and I grunted with pain. Fortunately, the enchantments on my coat counted her attack as a cut, so I wasn't turned into the newest example of that old magician's trick where they put the assistant in the box and then cut her in half. Of course, that did mean the blow was spread out across my entire body.

"Why didn't my Death Scythe cut you?" she demanded petulantly. I was stubbornly staying in one piece, and it looked like she was taking that kinda personally.

"I have a really good tailor," I coughed. " _Forzare_!"

The column of force slammed into the unprepared Sekirei's stomach, actually lifting her off the ground. I'd put more oomph into the spell this time, so it knocked her clear across to the other side of the tunnel, slamming her against the root wall.

"Last chance," I told her as she staggered to her feet. Man, if looks could kill... "Back off now. Kuu's not hurt. I'll let you walk away."

"You're going to _let_ me, Ashikabi?" she scoffed, hands gripping her scythe. I swallowed, drawing on my will in case I needed to block another attack. "Don't make me laugh! You can't _stop_ me! If you're my master's enemy, I'll do whatever I have to do to protect him!"

I didn't have time to ponder the implications of her last sentence because she was already swinging her scythe-

-but I was ready for the vacuum wave this time. I dove to the left and rolled, popping up into a crouch. " _Infriga_!" I shouted, splaying a hand towards Yomi as I carefully dipped into Winter. A thick wall of ice formed in front of me, rising from the ground.

The vacuum wave slammed into the wall and splintered, small shards of ice spraying out. With Winter's power as a source, the ice was thick enough that it didn't even crack the wall, let alone break through.

"Hey, tell me," I called out, "do you practice poses and one-liners in the mirror? 'This blade is filled with the power of darkness!' and dorky stuff like that?" I'd noticed Yomi was easily riled up, and she didn't seem to really plan out her attacks beyond 'attack attack attack!'. In that case, I'd give her a target to attack to her heart's content.

The Sekirei let out a cry of frustration and attacked again. She might not have cracked the ice with her attack, but that didn't stop her from trying again and again, the ice creaking and groaning with every impact.

With a triumphant shout, Yomi swung her scythe down and my ice wall finally shattered.

Too bad for her, I wasn't behind it anymore.

I lunged forward, dropping the veil I'd used to sneak to the side, and pulled on my magic. With a quiet snarl, I threw all of my weight into a right hook and connected solidly on her cheek, pushing force with the blow. My arm felt numb for a second from the impact. Yomi's head snapped to the side. I caught her by surprise and she must have been flat-footed, because she stumbled, falling to the ground and losing a grip on her Death Scythe.

I didn't lose the chance I'd managed to earn and snapped, " _Infriga_!" My magic ripped heat from the air around her, forming heavy chunks of ice that nicely acted as manacles for her wrists and ankles, keeping her pinned to the ground on her stomach.

"H-hey! Let me go!" she shouted, writhing. Her hands grabbed at her scythe, and I hurriedly kicked the weapon away from her. "Hey!"

"Just chill out here for a bit," I said as stood over her, staring down.

 _Harry, that was terrible._

'I regret nothing.'

Yomi scowled, not that she could do anything about it. "Wh-where are you looking at? Pervert!"

"Yeesh," I sighed. "You're gonna hurt my feelings if you say things like that." I was _actually_ looking at the nape of her neck; her dress had gotten a little torn during our scuffle and revealed a crimson mark, identical to the one on the same spot on Musubi.

"Freak! Pervert!"

I groaned, palming my face. "Seriously, can you keep it down? There are children present. Also, not a pervert."

* * *

"Harry?" Musubi called out, and I looked up, startled out of my woolgathering. "Harry?"

"In here, Musubi," I called back without getting up from where I was sitting against the wall.

There were two main reasons for that. First off, I currently had Kuu resting on my lap, her head against my chest as she breathed in and out regularly. After I finished dealing with Yomi, she'd come out from hiding and simply collapsed into my arms. I'd been worried for a second, but turns out she was just exhausted from the stress of everything that'd happened and was just asleep. It wasn't like someone curled up on my lap, fast asleep, was anything new to me, after all, so I just went with the flow.

The second reason I didn't get up was because I was pretty sure I had several cracked ribs from that blow I took from Yomi earlier. I might not be feeling the pain thanks to the Winter's Mantle, but Butters had yelled at me more than once for making the injuries worse than they had to be.

See? I _can_ learn. I just usually don't bother.

"We're coming!" Musubi called back, and I sighed in relief. Sounds like the two of them were doing okay.

When Musubi and Akitsu finally rounded the corner, I sighed and shook my head. "Musubi... What happened?"

Akitsu seemed fine from the fight, even if her clothes were a little singed here and there. But, then again, that was to be expected when fighting someone that flung lightning bolts around like they were Zeus's granddaughters or something. Musubi, on the other hand, hadn't fared nearly as well. Her top was shredded, the remaining strips of fabric trying gamely to keep their stitching together as the Sekirei waved exuberantly and ran towards me, one hand across her chest to cover her breasts. Her skirt seemed to have gotten off even worse than her robe, and only a few well-placed tatters kept the poor thing together.

How... How did she even manage that? The twins were using lightning, not gigantic scissors or something.

I think I'll just chalk this one up under an act of God and try not to think about it too hard. While unraveling the mysteries of the universe _was_ part of my job description, there were some things man was just not meant to know.

"Oh, those other two Sekirei used their Norito, and they were really strong!" Musubi gushed, face lighting up with joy. "It's okay, though, because Akitsu's really strong too! And _look_ , Harry!" she added happily, "I preserved my modesty!"

"That's very good, Musubi." There was just one problem with it. "But modesty includes your panties, too."

She blinked at me. "But that's silly! I can't cover up my breasts and my panties with one hand, and then if I use both hands I won't be able to fight!" Hah... And we were doing so well up to this point, too. "Harry? Is something wrong?"

"Just put my coat on for now. I'll explain later, once we have a place to stay for the night," I sighed. I might still technically have my apartment for two weeks, but I doubt the landlord would be too thrilled by me coming home covered in blood and with a young girl. Besides, I want to keep as much of my damage deposit intact as possible. "Speaking of Seo and the twins, Akitsu, what are you doing."

The second part of that sentence came out in a dull, flat tone, but can you really blame me? I'd looked over to the ostensibly more normal of my two Sekirei to find Akitsu lifting the hem of her robe.

"Musubi is... showing her panties," she told me after a second.

"That doesn't mean you should too," I sighed. "We've been over this."

"Ah..." Akitsu said, looking at me before thankfully putting her robe down. "...Yes, Master Harry."

She's treating it like... No, I'm just going to let that go. Frankly, that one isn't actually all that bad in the grand scheme of things.

"Back to what I was going to say," I said instead, getting back on track, "what happened to Seo, Hikari, and Hibiki?"

A low whistle answered me, and I glanced off to the side. "Your girls pack a punch," Seo said, hands in his pockets. Hikari and Hibiki were flanking him, and they both looked a little under the weather; Hibiki was shivering constantly, and Hikari let out a sneeze before sniffling and rubbing at her nose. "And looks like you can handle yourself too," he added, looking down at Yomi.

I shrugged. "She just kept shouting at me and calling me a pervert and a destitute loser. If I didn't do something, she would have woken up Kuu."

Yomi hadn't gotten close to breaking out of the shackles I'd placed on her, though they'd melt away soon enough if I wasn't there to keep an eye on them. No, what I'd done was add another chunk of ice around her mouth, keeping it shut. She could still breathe through her nose and roll her eyes at me aggressively, but that was pretty much it.

"Well, whatever works, I guess," Seo shrugged. "Least you found the Green Girl before anything else happened, huh?"

"I did," I said carefully. If he still wanted to fight, I'd oblige, but I'd much prefer ending things peacefully. "She collapsed as soon as I found her, but she confirmed she wants me to be her Ashikabi."

Seo scratched the back of his head, looking off to the side. "Guess fate took its course after all, huh? You winged her yet?" It was almost casual, the way he asked that last question without directly looking at me.

'Lash,' I requested. Depending on my answer, I might need to react quickly, and Lash's help would go a long way towards making that happen.

 _Of course._

To Seo, I said, "Not yet. If she still wants me as an Ashikabi after she's out of danger, then sure. I'm not going to force her if she doesn't want to."

"Mhm," Seo said, the tension in his shoulders draining just a bit. I took a deep breath of my own, feeling the tight pit in my stomach loosen a bit. "Well, looks like you've got everythin' under control here," he said, "so me and the girls are gonna get outta here. Catch you later, kid."

I kept an eye out until they'd disappeared into the bushes, and only then let myself fully relax. "Alright," I said to Musubi and Akitsu, "I'm pretty tired myself, so let's get out of here. Musubi, would you mind... Uh, actually, Akitsu, could you carry Kuu on your back? I don't want to make my ribs worse."

"Yes, Master Harry," Akitsu murmured before crouching down next to me and relieving me of my lap warmer.

"Great, thanks," I grinned at her before pushing myself to my feet. I swore under my breath and paced around while the blood rushed back to my leg, giving me that really obnoxious pins and needles feeling. I _hate_ that.

"Um, Harry?" Musubi began. "That Sekirei is trying to say something, I think. Shouldn't you free her?"

"The ice will melt eventually," I said with a shrug. "She can just stay put until then."

Yomi shouted something as we left, but the ice muffled it pretty well.

We exited the forest from the same place we went in, and Homura looked over from his position near the entrance of the gate. "Dresden," he said, immediately zeroing in on the asleep form of Kusano on Akitsu's back. "Number 108, is she..."

"She's fine," I reassured him. "Just exhausted. The events of the past few days were a little much for her, I think."

"Did you..."

I rolled my eyes. "What's with everyone thinking I'd do something like that? No, I haven't winged her. She confirmed she wants me as her Ashikabi, but I'd rather wait until she's had a good night's sleep before making any big decisions. It's not the greatest idea to make life-changing decisions when you're not at your best."

"I guess," Homura nodded thoughtfully.

I raised an eyebrow as I took in the motionless body off to the side, face down on the pavement. There were scorchmarks on the blacktop. "What happened there?"

"She was working with another pest of a Sekirei, Yomi," Homura said, his brow furrowing. "Yomi went ahead while Mitsuki kept me busy. I'm just glad you didn't run into that one. She's... Her personality isn't the greatest."

I decided to keep quiet about my little encounter. Something told me that Homura wouldn't take it well.

"Oh!" Musubi said, looking at me. "Harry, you fought Yomi, didn't you?"

Homura's gaze snapped to me like a rubber band, and I winced. "What?" he asked, staring daggers at me. "You fought a Sekirei?"

"He won, too!" Musubi added, totally oblivious to the pleading look I was giving her. She'd clenched her free fist, and I could swear she had stars in her eyes.

Homura gave me a second, closer look, and I didn't miss the way his eyes lingered on the tattered remnants of what were now my shorts. "How badly are you hurt?" he asked, a strange note to his voice.

I shrugged. "Nothing I won't heal from."

"That's..." Homura gave up and sighed, shaking his head. "That's not an answer," he told me.

I was about to reply when Kusano stirred on Akitsu's back. "I'm hungry..." she mumbled quietly, still mostly asleep.

Chuckling, I turned to Homura and said, "Well, you heard the little lady." My rough plan, such as it was, was to grab some food, eat, then sleep off my busted ribs. "Guess that's our cue to leave."

"Dresden, wait-" Homura began, then hesitated. "Wait," he said finally. "It's my responsibility to protect the unwinged birds, so it's my fault Yomi got through and you got hurt."

"I keep telling you, it's not as bad as -"

"You're covered in scratches and blood," Homura said bluntly. "It might not seem like much now, but it'd still be best if you went to the hospital and had a doctor take a look at it."

I shook my head and said, "Hospitals are a definite no. My magic doesn't play well with electronics."

He frowned slightly. "The karaoke machines?"

"Bingo."

"Hm." He sighed. "Well, then, the next best thing would be to let me take a look back at the place I'm staying. And," he added, "I think my landlady will be making dinner, so you and your Sekirei can eat."

I shrugged. "Well, when you put it that way. Lay on, Macduff."

Homura led us to a large house in the northern part of town. It was pretty large, with a high wooden fence surrounding the yard. The house itself was two stories tall, with wooden walls and green shingles on the roof. It had an air of solidity about it, like it'd been here before I was born and it'd still be here after I eventually kicked the bucket. This was someone's home, not just a random house, and it showed. Someone had made sure to oil the gate hinges, and fix any cracks in the cobblestone path leading to the front door. All in all, a pretty nice place to live.

The threshold that met me at the front door, surprisingly, wasn't as strong as I'd expected it to be. It was powerful, yeah, but it felt more like it was powerful because the person living there was powerful, not because they'd been there for a long time. If the Carpenter's threshold could be seen from space, this one was maybe a few city blocks away.

As soon as Homura opened the door, a wave of nostalgia hit me like a flying brick to the face. Yeah, this was someone's home, all right. It just had that _feeling_. "Miya, I'm home!" he called out as he entered.

"Ah, Homura! Welcome back!" A soft feminine voice answered him as -

-Power. Raw, overwhelming power flooded my senses and I froze, staring at the lovely lavender-haired woman that had emerged from one of the rooms. This was like Karasuba but ten times worse, and with the state I was in right now there was no way I'd be able to stop her from killing me if she wanted to. Standing next to Musubi and Akitsu was like standing next to a campfire; warm, but not unpleasantly so. Standing in front of the woman, though, was like standing in a furnace. Waves of tightly-controlled power crashed against me, and I shivered.

"Oh, my," the woman said, raising a hand to her mouth. "I didn't expect you to be bringing guests."

I immediately latched on to that last word like a drowning sailor to some flotsam. See, the rules of hospitality and etiquette? They were Big Deals to the Sidhe, rules and customs that dictated how host and guest had to act. I had no reason to believe that it held true for these aliens, but I would take any possible shelter that I could. "Thank you," I said, sketching a respectful bow as well as I could with my ribs protesting. "It would be an honor to be invited into your home, my host."

"There's no need for that," the woman said gently. "Now, please, come in and rest. You all look like you've had a long day."

I let out a sigh of relief. Even if she wasn't bound by the same rules as the Sidhe, her invitation let me cross the threshold without leaving most of my power behind. I would be able to defend myself if this was, in fact, an elaborate trap, but it didn't feel like one. Being a person with a not-insubstantial of enemies, I'd been through my fair share in my time, and I'd gotten pretty good at sniffing them out before they could be sprung.

"I hope you don't mind my forwardness," the woman said, "but I have some clothes you and your friend can borrow, if you'd like."

I glanced down at the shreds of my pants, and then over at Musubi, who was only avoiding flashing everyone by holding my coat closed with her hand. Poor thing... The coat wasn't designed for that kind of burden. "That'd be fantastic, thanks," I said.

* * *

After cleaning off the dried blood on my face, I patiently waited in the side room for Homura to return with the clothes he was going to borrow from our host. It was a nice room - different from what I was used to, but Lash assured me that the sliding door and sparse furniture was a very classical Japanese style. On the other hand, I was currently sitting on a cushion on the floor instead of a comfy couch, so the mileage varied.

Before I could lose feeling in my legs properly, the door to the room slid open. "Here, Dresden," Homura said, stepping into the room and offering me a folded bundle of green clothes. I took them, and then he walked over to the closet and pulled out a white first aid kit, not unlike the one I'd seen Butters lugging around every time he needed to patch me up. "I'll take a look at those scratches after you get changed."

"You really don't have to," I said as I shrugged off my shirt. "They'll heal on their own soon enough. Perk of being a wizard." Hm... A green jumpsuit? Wasn't exactly my style, but whatever.

"Dresden." I glanced over at Homura, who was sitting stock-still and staring at me. Or, more accurately, my torso; I looked down and let out a low whistle. A motley collection of rapidly purpling bruises covered my chest, and I winced. "What are those," he said flatly, the words not sounding like a question.

Right. Those. Forgot about those, to be honest. I don't feel pain, thanks to the Winter Mantle, so something like those bruises didn't even register.

"Dresden," Homura repeated urgently.

I shrugged. "I took a hit from Yomi's scythe. My magic worked, so she didn't cut me. Probably just a few cracked ribs that'll heal up in a few days."

Homura muttered something under his breath. It sounded like a curse. Then, face resigned, he opened up the first aid kit and started rummaging in it.

After he finished bandaging up my ribs, despite my repeated assurances that I'd heal, and I finished getting changed, he sat back. "Why were you fighting a Sekirei by yourself?" he asked me.

"Because she was attacking Kuu," I said.

"Not that," he said. "Why weren't Musubi or that Scra... or Akitsu with you?"

"Because they were busy fighting off some other Sekirei. Those lightning users, Hikari and Hibiki?"

"God," Homura muttered, shaking his head. "And you fought her. What were you thinking?"

I don't really get why he's so worked up about this. "She reminded me of someone else I knew," I said, staring out into the hallway. Musubi was with our host, and Akitsu was... somewhere, I wasn't entirely sure. "She had a lot of raw talent, but that was it, really. She just wasn't a match for a pro."

"And you're a pro?" Homura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure am," I grinned. "Even got a business card and everything."

Homura stood up and gathered up the first aid kit, putting it back in the closet where it belonged. "Look, Dresden-" he began to say before he was interrupted.

"Harry! I borrowed a kimono!"

Both Homura and I looked over to the source of the voice to see Musubi and the woman standing there. Musubi had changed into a very fancy kimono with an ornately colorful flower pattern decorating the fabric. My libido approved, vigorously enough for me to ignore the feeling of pressure that woman was giving off. "You look beautiful, Musubi," I said, and the girl colored as she smiled.

"Like two flowers, blooming side by side," Homura said smoothly. I can see why he's the most popular host at that club.

"It would have been nice if I had some normal clothes," the woman said, "but all I have are formal clothes, so..."

"It's no problem," I said. "Thank you for letting us borrow these in the first place. You didn't have to do that."

She smiled and raised a hand to her mouth. "I enjoy meddling," she said. "My husband did as well. Those are his clothes you're wearing."

I'd had plenty of experience casually chatting with beings that could swat me like a bug, so this was a lot less jarring than it really should have been. "Husband?" I asked, looking at Homura suspiciously.

He waved a hand. "It's not me, so don't look at me like that."

"He died several years ago," the woman said.

Instantly, I felt like a heel. The loss of all my loves - Elaine, Susan, Stacy - through the years still stung, and some of those emotional scars were over fifteen years old. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she assured me. "It's been a long time, and I've come to terms with my loss."

"Yeah..."

"So," she said, clapping her hands together lightly. "I'm afraid I haven't asked your names yet."

"I'm Harry Dresden," I said. "This is Musubi, and Akitsu and Kusano are in the living room."

She smiled. "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Miya Asama, but please, call me Miya."

I was going to say something, but a rumble filled the air, and I looked over at Musubi, who smiled easily despite the loud noises her stomach just made. I was going to make a joke about it when my own stomach decided it wanted in on the fun too, and made some noisy complaints of its own. Miya just raised her hand to her mouth and giggled. "Food will be ready soon, so why don't you go ahead and join your friend in the dining room?"

"Alright," I said. As Miya turned and walked down the hall, turning in to one of the rooms, I felt my body unclench a little bit. As nice as she seemed to be, the power she kept giving off was like having an angry howler monkey scream in my face.

When we all walked into the dining room, Akitsu was sitting down patiently, staring into nothing with Kuu asleep on her lap. Once I sat down, Akitsu's eyes snapped to me and she resumed her staring with me as her subject again. "I am glad you are not hurt, Master Harry," she said softly.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry to worry you," I said. I didn't say much more than that, because that was when the food arrived courtesy of Miya.

The food looked and smelled delicious, just as good as anything Charity had ever made. Kuu stirred from her exhausted sleep once the food was on the table - more proof that your stomach is the best alarm clock - and we all tried not to make noises that were too obscene while filling our stomachs. Musubi and Akitsu ate like they normally did, but Miya didn't even bat an eye at the huge helpings; for my part, I was able to put my nervousness about Miya aside and just focus on the delicious food in front of me.

Kusano fell right back to sleep once she was finished eating - she still had her fork clutched in her hands, it was totally adorable - and the rest of us sat back, finally full. "That was really good," Musubi said.

"Why, thank you very much," Miya said, smiling. "Ah, Homura, are you leaving?"

The Sekirei in question hadn't eaten with the rest of us and was instead standing by the door, adjusting a black tie around his neck. "Yes, I'm heading out," he said. "You don't need to worry about making something for me."

"A tie?" Miya asked, studying him curiously. "Is it a special occasion?"

"I'm meeting an important client, so I thought I'd put more appeal into my outfit," he said, before glancing at me. "Dresden."

"What's up?"

"We need to... No, never mind," he said.

"Uh...okay?" Without explaining, Homura just turned and walked out of the room. Weird. Shaking my head, I turned to Miya. "So, Miya," I said, folding my hands in my lap. I didn't want her to see them shake. "The rules of hospitality hold, right?"

She smiled slightly. "Everyone is welcome in Izumo Inn."

"Great, cool," I said, then swallowed. "Please forgive my rudeness, then. But what _are_ you?"

"Oh?" Her eyes opened just a little bit, studying me.

 _My host..._

'I know what I'm doing, Lash,' I told her.

"You're not human, I know that much," I said. "But you're not a Sekirei, not quite. The aura isn't quite right. So what are you?" I know I was pushing it, but hey, might as well go all in when pissing off people that could swat me like a fly.

Miya watched me a little bit longer, then smiled. "Don't you know it's improper to ask a poor widow something like that? I might fear for my virtue," she needled me.

"Very funny," I grumbled. It was a long shot anyway. I never get straight answers when I want them.

Soft snores started coming from Kuu, and I looked down at the little girl, snoozing away on the table. "She's asleep," Miya said gently. "It must be because her stomach is full."

I nodded. "Probably. We should really get going - not that I'm trying to get out of here, but we need to find a place to crash for the night." Miya looked at me curiously, and I said, "I have an apartment, but there's no way it's going to fit four people."

"In that case," she said, "why don't you spend the night here? I have several open rooms that you are more than welcome to borrow."

"I wouldn't want to impose..." Translation: I'm not going to push my luck, here.

"Oh, it's no bother at all," Miya said. "She can sleep in my room for the night."

I sighed. In for a penny... "Well, then, thank you," I said. "Does that sound good for you two, Musubi, Akitsu?"

"Sure!" Musubi mumbled through another mouthful of food. She was still going, working her way through what had to be her second helping.

"Yes, Master Harry," Akitsu said softly.

"Alright," I said. "We'll gratefully accept your offer, Miya."

Kuu didn't even stir as I picked her up and carried her to the room Miya pointed out. The little girl was fast asleep and dead to the world, much like how I yearned to be right about now.

But it wasn't to be, because Miya was waiting for me when I exited the room. "I've set up a room for you on the second floor," she said. "Musubi and Akitsu have already gone upstairs - they refused to be separated from you."

Miya looked like she was expecting me to say something, so I obliged. "Are we safe here?" I asked her bluntly.

She smiled. "There is no violence in Izumo Inn," she said, and I believed her. That threatening aura was enough proof that her word was law. "If I may pry..."

"Yeah?"

"Is there another reason you needed to borrow a room?" she asked me gently.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "Well," I admitted, "my apartment is singles only. Since Musubi and Akitsu moved in, _we're_ getting kicked out. I'm looking for apartments, but so far nothing's worked out."

She smiled, raising a hand to her mouth. "Oh, is that so? It seems that the gods have guided you here, then."

Really? I've met a few gods, and most of the time they seemed content to just let us mortals run around like chickens with their heads cut off. And that's not just an idle phrase, either. I spent a couple years on a farm, I've actually seen that. "And why's that?"

"Because like I said, I have several open rooms here at Izumo Inn," Miya said. "And I think you and your friends would fit right in with the rest of my boarders."

I snorted. Of course. "Can I sleep on it? I have to consult a few people, and I don't want to make a decision right away."

"Of course, take as long as you need. Oh, and Harry," she said as I turned to go. "There are no lewd acts permitted in Izumo Inn," she said with a peaceful smile. Despite that, a shiver ran down my spine at the aura she was giving off. "I trust I can leave you in a room with those two young ladies?"

"You don't have to worry about that," I assured her. I might be in my twenties physically, but mentally I was still at least thirty years older than Musubi and Akitsu. Doing something like that would just be weird.

I didn't go upstairs right away - I'd relied on Winter a little bit during the fight with Yomi, and no sense in frustrating myself. Instead, I took a seat in the doorway to the house's yard, looking out at the night sky. I liked quiet moments like these, when it was just me and the world, without any pressing need to save said world.

"Master Harry..."

I looked over at the quiet voice to see Akitsu standing in the hallway. The feeling of Winter approaching had tipped me off, so it wasn't a surprise. "Oh, hey, Akitsu," I said. "What's up?"

She was silent for a bit. "...I was not there. I failed."

"Huh? Oh, you mean when I was fighting Yomi?" She nodded silently. "You're just as bad as Homura... I can handle myself," I told her, "so there's no reason to beat yourself up about it."

"I won't fail again," she said quietly. "Please... don't get rid of me..."

Now, I wasn't really sure why these two Sekirei insisted on sticking with me. If I had to guess, it had something to do with the bond between a Sekirei and the Ashikabi; Homura's explanation about needing an Ashikabi to get winged seemed a little, I dunno, incomplete. Like there was something he wasn't telling me.

But all that was irrelevant, because Akitsu was waiting for an answer. "You don't need to worry about that," I said. "I'm not some jerk that just throws people away." I wasn't Nicodemus, or Mab, or any of the baddies I'd faced down over the years. I didn't get rid of people just because they'd stopped being useful.

"Understood..." she said. "...Thank you."

I looked up at the shining stars for a few more seconds, then pushed myself to my feet. I'd zoned out long enough that Winter had subsided, especially with Lash's silent help. "Well, it's late. We should get to bed."

Akitsu nodded once and fell in behind me as we both went upstairs.

I'll worry about Miya, and finding a place to live, in the morning.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up and heaved a sigh of relief when the only thing I could feel was two bodies, one on either side of me. 'No Sekirei dreams, Lash?'

 _None, Harry,_ she told me. _It seems that Kusano was the only Sekirei you have been reacting to recently._

'Yeah, and we have to do something about that today,' I said. 'I'm pretty sure I promised her yesterday.'

 _You did._

I didn't even bother trying to sit up, since I could feel Musubi clinging to my side without having to look. I was getting pretty good at slipping out of her grasp, now that I'd had to do it a few mornings in a row.

'So, what do you think about the place?' I asked Lash as I wandered downstairs and back out to where I was sitting last night, Akitsu following me like always. I heard Miya humming in the kitchen, the smell of something delicious and homemade wafting out towards me, and sniffed the air appreciatively.

Lash pretended to think for a second. _It fits all of the criteria you wanted,_ she said.

'Low tech, the room's pretty big, and hopefully the rent isn't too high,' I said. 'I'll have to talk to Miya about price, but it's not bad.'

In the kitchen, Miya started chopping something.

'And once you get used to it, Miya's aura isn't that bad,' I continued. Sure, she was powerful, but it didn't feel like she was... using any of that power, if that made any sense. Like she was trying to just live her life without letting it interfere.

Lash gave the mental equivalent of a smile. _Why, Harry,_ she said smoothly, _perhaps she was right to fear for her virtue after all._

'Yuk it up, Lash,' I sighed.

 _Or maybe you'd prefer Akitsu? Like calls to like, after all, and the Sekirei has plenty of Winter within her._

I just ignored her. If I let her get to me, she'd never stop.

Besides, it seemed like the sound chopping had woken up someone else, judging by the sound of small footsteps in the hallway. The feeling of growth and new life accompanied them, and I looked over to see Kuu hiding by the corner of the hallway, one hand clutching at her white sundress nervously.

For a moment I saw a different little girl, accompanied by an enormous dog. I blinked and the ghosts were gone.

"Hey there," I said with a grin. "Good morning."

"...Good morning," Kuu said. Skittish little thing, isn't she?

"Feeling better?" She nodded seriously. "That's good."

I wasn't really sure what to say after that. "You want to sit down?"

"'Kay," she said. Hesitantly, she sat down next to me, scooching closer bit by bit. The morning was a little chilly, and Kuu sneezed.

Working with Molly, back when she had been my apprentice and still human, had forced me to refine some of my spells since she couldn't draw as much energy as I could. One of the spells I'd developed in the process was a passable version of a hair dryer, but that wasn't the spell I wanted to use. Instead, I murmured a few words and a little swirl of warm air settled around the two of us, settling on our shoulders like a blanket. Kuu looked up at me, a little wide-eyed, and I grinned. "Better?"

"Mhm." She looked up at me. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"Of course. Couldn't leave you in trouble, could I?"

"Please, big brother," she said, reaching up towards my face with her hands. "Will you do me a favor? Be my Ashikabi..."

I rested a hand on her arm. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said, before drawing herself close and giving me a small peck on the lips.

Ten pale green wings bloomed behind Kusano, centered on the nape of her neck. They stretched away, wrapping around both of us, closer to a glow given life rather than anything solid. When I winged Musubi, it had just been a rush of power and energy; this time, though, a flood of power surged out all around. In the garden, flowers started to bloom in an instant as the life energy surged, flower petals fluttering through the air.

 _Raw life energy,_ Lash mused. _Channeled into nature, it grows flowers. But channeled into spells..._

'...and who knows what'll happen,' I finished, staring at the happily smiling girl sitting in front of me. 'Wow.'

Breakfast that morning was a lively affair, with Musubi somehow managing to carry on a conversation with Miya even while stuffing her face. Our host made a few oblique references to the sudden addition of wildflowers to her well-tended garden, but she didn't press for actual confirmation on whether I'd actually winged Kuu or not. As for Kuu herself, she'd decided to claim my lap as her seat for breakfast, happily munching away at the food Miya had served us. It made eating a little annoying, but I really couldn't say no to her when she looked up at me with weapons-grade puppy eyes.

"So, Harry," Miya said once I'd finished eating, "have you given thought to my offer?"

I nodded. "We'll have to talk price," I warned her, "but I think it'll work out."

She smiled. "In that case... Welcome to Izumo Inn."

* * *

 **Hey folks, a couple reviews keep bringing this up, so let me address the subject once and for all.**

 **Ahem.**

 **I AM NOT COPYING GABRIEL BLESSING. I AM NOT COPYING IN FLIGHT. HARRY IS NOT SHIROU.**

 **Fuck's sake, people. I haven't read the fucking story for two and a half years at this point, SOLELY because I wanted to keep my story separate from that one. I'm using the manga as my base, not a fanfic. Are there going to be similar features? Sure, possibly. This is fucking chapter SIX, we haven't had a chance for much divergence from Sekirei canon yet. Are there similar lines in both stories? Maybe. I'm writing without going around and checking that every line I write hasn't been written before in a different story. I read the story before, it's possible some lines are stuck in my subconscious and come through without my being aware of them. Even if you whine about it being similar to In Flight, FUCK YOU I'm not changing my plans for the story. So shut up and deal.**

 **Will Harry stop being so skittish about sex/the Sekirei girls? He doesn't KNOW about the bond yet. All he knows is that there's a connection between winged Sekirei and their Ashikabi, and what Homura's told him. He doesn't know that Sekirei winging is marriage, he doesn't know that they fall in love with their Ashikabis, he doesn't know that if the Ashikabi dies the Sekirei deactivate. He DOES know that Musubi can snap him like a twig, and that Akitsu is incredibly powerful, and he's chivalrous, so he wants to give them space to get changed and stuff like that. He's easily in his fifties, if not older, he has a teenaged daughter! He's not skittish about sex. He's just being (from his point of view) considerate. Did I maybe go a bit overboard last chapter? Yeah. This is really the first interactions between Harry and his first two Sekirei. I'm working on getting his character down. Hopefully it's better this chapter.**

 **RANT OVER. Ugh.**

 **Now, as for the actual update author notes, UGH this chapter. The first half of it came out pretty smoothly, but the second I got past the fight and into the character interactions… Other writers on this site might know how it is: sometimes the words flow onto the page like water, and sometimes the words flow onto the page like water that is frozen solid.**

 **(In case you can't tell, the second half of this update was the latter part.)**

 **Hopefully Harry's reactions to Miya – roughly on par with Karasuba, though not as bad mainly because 1) it's been a while since Miya killed anyone, and 2) Karasuba actively enjoys killing humans, while Miya only did it to protect her flock – are believable. I figure that if he could comport himself in the Erlking's hall, he could sleep in Izumo Inn, so whatever.**

 **I'm not 100% satisfied with the second half of the chapter, but I think the fight scene against Yomi came out pretty okay. Thoughts? Suggestions? Constructive criticism?**

 **Oh, and if Harry can have a** _ **flickum bicus**_ **spell to light candles, he can totally have a** _ **keepus warmum**_ **spell. This isn't pig Latin or dog Latin, this is barely doggerel Latin.**

 **Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed. I'm writing this mainly for me, but I'm glad you are all enjoying this too.**

* * *

 **Important Announcement Regarding This Story**

This story, as of mid-December, 2017, has been on indefinite hiatus for a while; mainly because while I enjoy the setting and characters, I wasn't having fun writing the chapters. They fought me tooth and nail, making every word come inch by excruciating inch, and why write something I don't have fun with, right?

My intent in putting this story on hiatus was, essentially, to give it time to settle in my mind and let the characters calm down before coming back to it. I had always intended to return - I hadn't ever given up on a story before, and I didn't want this to be the first.

However. Several idiots have taken it on themselves to bite the hand that feeds them, and while I will gratefully accept constructive criticism and ignore flames, I _will not tolerate insults_. As such, the following change to this story's status has been made:

 **Soul's Wings is now permanently canceled.**

Yes, forever. Yes, it sucks. No, I will not change my mind.

The story is up for adoption, if anyone wants to try their hand at it. Maybe one of the anonymous cowards?


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